Sick Streak
by KicsterAsh
Summary: Phineas is sick, but he refuses to skip a day of inventing. Ferb's worried he's overdoing it, and when he gets the feeling that there's more to Phineas' flu, he wonders if he'll be able to take control of the situation or not.
1. Chapter 1

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE: _**_Here's the first chapter to the second Phineas and Ferb story, guys! **Sick Streak! **If you want info on certain things in here, check out the description on the post on my DA page._

* * *

Ferb walked slowly down the stairs that Monday morning, dressed in his usual attire and shoulder bag at the ready. Since it was sunny that day, he had pulled out his sunglasses along with his black coat. He sighed heavily, announcing his presence to his parents, who were sitting at the table, eating breakfast.

Perry crawled down the stairs after his owner.

"It's about time you boys come downstairs," Linda said sternly while standing up. "Did you pack your suitcase, Ferb?"

Ferb nodded. His parents were leaving on a short business trip for their store, and so he and Phineas would be spending the week at their sister's house. Perry the Platypus, of course, would be accompanying them.

"Of course, I shouldn't be asking you that question," his stepmother muttered, making her husband chuckle. "You always seem to get things prepared a day in advance. It's Phineas who needs reminding. He inherited _that_ feature from his biological father."

Ferb grinned weakly at this; he knew how forgetful his stepbrother could be when his imagination got the better of him. He often teased Phineas because of it.

"Speaking of which, did he finally get up too?" Linda added. "Because the bus will be here in twenty minutes."

At these words, Ferb replied with a simple yet firm shake of the head. His mother did not seem the least bit pleased by this. "Is he _still_ up there inventing something?" she groaned.

Ferb gave her an uneasy look. "Well, not exactly, Mum," he replied, setting his bag down.

"He's just goofing off then, isn't he?" Before Ferb could reply, Linda left the table and stormed towards the stairs. "Phineas Flynn, you had better be getting ready, Young Man!" she shouted from the foot of the stairs. When no one replied, she groaned loudly and began the ascent.

"Oh dear," Lawrence muttered, getting to his feet and running after her. "Linda, Dear, he's probably just teasing you again. Don't get upset!"

Ferb ran after him. "Uh, actually, Father, he's—!"

"I don't care if he's throwing pebbles out the window again and _accidentally_ hitting the neighbour's windows," Linda replied as she walked up to the boys' room. "When it's time for school, he needs to get up! PHINEAS!"

"Mother, don't yell!" Ferb warned her as he and Lawrence turned the corner and followed the woman into the room.

"I'm tired of having to wake him up every morning!" Linda stormed up to the raft-shaped bed, placed her hands on her hips and glared at the mound of covers that shielded her son from view. "Phineas Flynn, I am not going to repeat it, Mister!" she snapped while grabbing the sheets. "It is time to get ready for schoo—!"

She pulled the covers back incredibly quickly but stopped dead in her words as Lawrence and Ferb arrived. Linda covered her mouth in shock. "_Phineas?_" she gasped.

Phineas was still lying in bed, though completely dressed for school in his baggy jeans and spanish orange sweater; however, his face was incredibly pale, his hair was a mess and his eyes were rimmed in red when he opened them. By the way he flinched and moaned, it was clear that the amount of noise and light was causing him pain.

"Blimey," Lawrence muttered in shock.

"He's got a fever, so I told him to stay in bed," Ferb explained, although he was peeved that his mother had bothered to disturb his brother before receiving an explanation. "But he refused to listen to me. When I returned from doing my business in the bathroom, he was already dressed. So I put him back in bed myself."

Linda looked at him. "Why didn't you tell me that in the first place?" she wondered.

Ferb shot her a slightly irritated frown. But all he did to reply was shrug.

Linda and Lawrence exchanged a glance before realizing that Phineas was sitting up. Linda let go of the blankets and watched as her fifteen-year-old son began to shakily raise himself to his feet. "Phineas, maybe you should stay home," she instructed.

Phineas placed a hand on his lamp to keep his balance. "N-n-no, I'm fine," he croaked sickly. "I-I-I need to go to school."

Lawrence placed a hand over the teenager's forehead and gasped softly. "Go to school?" he echoed. "Are you daft, boy? You're as hot as a tea kettle!"

"I f-f-feel fine, Dad."

Ferb passed a hand over his face. "He wants to go to school because he's the lead role in our play," he explained. When his parents looked at him, he added, "Rehearsal is today after school in the auditorium. He's playing Romeo."

"That's ridiculous, Phineas!" Linda objected, looking at her youngest son again. "You are not going to school just because you're in a play!"

"B-b-but I feel fine, Mom," Phineas replied. He sat down on the bed again and grabbed his backpack that was sitting on the floor. He coughed loudly. "I-I-I'll probably feel better the more the day goes on…"

"Phineas, we can drop you off at Candace's on the way to the airport," his mother replied as Phineas stood up again. "I don't want you to get sick while at school."

"I won't get sick."

"Famous last words," Ferb muttered under his breath.

Linda rubbed her chin and looked at Lawrence. All her husband did was shrug, although concern was in his eyes. Linda waited a moment longer before sighing and looking at Phineas again. "Alright, go to school," she said. "But if you feel the least bit queasy, give your sister a call. Knowing her, she probably won't be thrilled to come and get you, but I don't want you spending the day at a school filled with teenagers if you're going to be nauseous. Is that clear?"

Without waiting for an answer, Linda turned around and pointed at Ferb. "Keep an eye on him, and if he refuses to call Candace, do it for him," she instructed. "You're better at calling for help in situations like these than he is; he's too stubborn to do a good job."

"I'm standing right _here_, Mom," Phineas groaned irritatingly while glaring at his mother. "I may be ill-looking, but my ears are working just fine."

Ferb could not help but crack a grin at this while his father chuckled behind his hand. Linda simply looked at him and shrugged apologetically. "Stop being that bad and I'll stop naggin," she replied. "Deal?"

Phineas did not reply and reached for his sketchbook. Unfortunately, Ferb had noticed him do so, and had grabbed the book only moments before his brother did, much to Phineas' dismay. The British sixteen-year-old shook his head. "I'll keep this," he replied. "You wouldn't want to throw up on it, would you?"

Phineas wrinkled his nose and glared coldly at him as Ferb smiled. "You torture me for pleasure," he croaked, making his parents laugh.

* * *

"You're a pain, you know that?"

Ferb looked over at his brother as they rode the bus to school. Phineas was sitting against the window, as usual, but he had his hood over his head and his coat collar flipped upwards. With a stubborn frown over his pale face, the teenager crossed his arms and looked out the window.

With a weak grin, the green-haired teenager returned to his book. "How so?" he asked.

"I want my sketchbook back," Phineas muttered.

"I'll give it to you once you're well again."

"Since when have _you_ become my doctor?"

Ferb raised his eyes heavenward before closing his book and looking at Phineas again. "You do realize that you have a fever of precisely 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit, right?" he pointed out gently.

"I don't care. I've never cared about being sick, Ferb." Phineas hugged himself tighter and coughed violently. "You remember when I organized that sick day for you Isabella, Baljeet, Buford and me? I was _sick. Sick, sick, sick_. And yet I played video games. All _you_ did was sit and read your book while a wooden cuckoo bird tapped your controller."

"Which is why I got rid of my cough earlier than you did," Ferb pointed out.

Phineas turned his head and narrowed his eyes. "I'm just burning myself, aren't I?" he realized while finally grinning.

Ferb grinned amusingly and nodded. Phineas simply returned to staring out the window.

"Phineas, don't you think you're overdoing it this time?" Ferb pointed out gently. "I mean, going to school simply for a play is ridiculous. The teacher already loves your acting, not to mention your role has been conserved. You'll just faint up there. She'll understand if you're sick."

"I'm not actually _just_ doing this for the play, Ferb," Phineas replied. "That's why I wanted my sketchbook back."

At these words, Ferb widened his eyes in shock and then frowned. "You're going to school because of _lunch hour_?" he guessed, unimpressed by the least. When all Phineas did was look away, Ferb groaned and slapped his forehead. "Phineas, why on Earth would you do _that_? That's the most absurd thing you could possibly—!"

"I've got an idea and it needs to come out," Phineas argued, looking at his brother again. "So I want my—!"

"The moment I give you that sketchbook, you're going to be so drowned in that imagination of yours, you won't realize that you've passed out!" Ferb snapped quietly.

"But I know what we—!"

"Don't give me that line! _I_ know what you're going to do today, and that's _rest_! I refuse to give you your sketchbook or build anything until you've gotten better, so live with it!"

Phineas groaned loudly and nearly glued himself against the cold window. "This is soooo stupid!" he moaned. "I've got an idea stuck in my brain, and my so-called _action-before-words_ stepbrother has suddenly learned how to verbalize long enough to give me a lecture! Why do you _only_ speak this much when you want to give me a lecture?"

"I'm not lecturing you," Ferb replied in his usual soft voice. His dark blue eyes softened. "I'm only watching out for you."

Phineas' frown dissipated and he sighed heavily before sinking into the seat. "I know," he muttered. "… Not to mention complaining is just making me feel even more exhausted…"

"Then why did you want to come to school?"

"Are we _actually_ going to restart this, Ferb?"

These words made Ferb chuckle softly before he opened up his book again. "Obviously not," he muttered.

"I've never missed a day of school, Ferb," Phineas continued. "Never. Since day one. Except for the occasional doctor's appointment or dentist appointment." He hugged himself. "Breaking that streak… and breaking our invention streak… is the last thing I want to do."

"Phineas, you're already a straight A student."

"And you're a straight A _plus_."

"My point is that one missed day of inventing and classes because you are ill is for the better. I'm pretty sure the teachers won't mind you staying home because you're sick with the flu."

Phineas did not reply. He simply paused and sighed heavily. "Fine," he croaked before closing his eyes. "If I feel worse, I'll call Candace. Does that make you feel better?"

Ferb grinned without looking up from his book. "Very," he replied. There was a short moment of silence before he felt Phineas lean his head against his shoulder. Trying not to move too much, Ferb turned his head.

"Wake me when we get there, will you?" Phineas whispered tiredly.

Ferb settled down against the seat to make Phineas more comfortable and looked at his book again. It was not often that he expressed his protectiveness of his brother, but after spending five years doing the most amazing feats with him and simplemindedly facing dangers without a hint of fear in their hearts, Ferb had grown to not only admire Phineas' perseverance, optimism and creativity, but he also cherished it. They had grown so close to each other that, in fact, Ferb felt it was his duty to remind Phineas that he was still human, thus needing to physically take care of himself.

If that meant skipping a day of inventing, then so be it.

The English-born teenager grinned weakly for a moment. "I won't build anything until you've recovered," he whispered. "I promise."

Phineas hummed weakly in reply before drifting off.


	2. Chapter 2

Isabella closed her locker and sighed loudly while tying her long hair into a ponytail. The scrunchie elastic matched perfectly with the rose turtleneck her grandmother had made for her earlier that year. She had spent the first hour before classes began organizing her latest column for the high school newspaper. She had been a reporter since she had first entered junior high, and since that day relished the idea of being a journalist.

_Traveling to faraway places would be one adventure after another_, she thought. _Not to mention the ideal job for me, if I do become a journalist. If Phineas does decide to be an inventor, then he'll definitely be traveling around. _

Phineas. Isabella sighed heavenly at the thought while shaking her head about and organizing her hair. She had had an enormous crush on her neighbour from across the street nearly since she had begun school with him and Ferb. She never knew why; at first, she had thought it may be his big, ultramarine blue eyes, filled with excitement and cheerfulness; maybe because of the way he looked and spoke. But once she thought about it, although his physical appearance had certainly had an influence on her choice of crush, Isabella had come to the conclusion that the part of Phineas she admired the most was the way he thought, the way he laughed and the way he made everyone feel important and equal. He always did his best to help people and never thought of himself first.

His heart. _That's_ what Isabella had fallen for.

But there was still one problem: as cute and humble as he was, Phineas was the most naïve boy Isabella had ever known. His naïveté was not entirely bad, no—but the fact that he was _still_ oblivious to her flirts was beginning to annoy the girl.

She sighed again. _Imagination comes before the girl, I guess_, she thought. _At least he isn't interested in any_ other_ girl in high school... _

She walked down the corridor of chattering students and made her way to Phineas', Ferb's and Baljeet's lockers. The three boys had theirs close together, which made it the official rendezvous for the small group of friends. Buford, unless at a football practice, would meet up there as well.

When she rounded the corner, she saw that the boys were already there. Tossing her irritation aside, Isabella smiled and skipped happily towards her friends. "Hey guys!" she greeted.

Buford and Baljeet looked up and either nodded or grinned weakly. Ferb was busy helping his brother reach into his locker for something.

Isabella stopped next to the Flynn-Fletcher duo and smiled. "Hi, Ferb… _Hiya_, Phineas," she added sweetly, just as she always did. She tilted her head to one side curiously and grinned even more. "Watcha doin'?"

To her complete surprise, Phineas pulled his arms rapidly out of his locker and covered his mouth as he coughed violently against his sleeves. The sound was enough to make Baljeet, Buford and even Ferb recoil in bewilderment.

Isabella jumped back instead.

Phineas coughed a little longer before moaning and resting his chin against the bottom of his locker.

"I told you to stay home," Ferb muttered almost inaudibly.

"Cannit," Phineas croaked. He raised his head and reached for the binder Ferb handed to him.

Isabella took the opportunity to speak again. "Um, is everything alright, Phineas?" she wondered.

Phineas closed his locker and locked it before finally turning around to look at the others. Isabella widened her eyes in shock just as Baljeet cried out in fright upon seeing his friend's pale face. "It's a ghost!" he exclaimed, running behind Buford for protection.

Phineas looked at him tiredly and glared. "I don't look _that_ white, Jeet," he said.

Isabella blinked several times before reaching over and placing a hand against her friend's forehead. Her eyes widened as round as ping-pong balls again. "Are you _sick_, Phineas?" she gasped. "What are you doing at school if you're sick?"

Ferb opened his mouth, but Phineas quickly reached over and clamped his hand over it. "Don't even _think_ about speaking again," he warned. Looking at Isabella again, his frown dissipated. "I've just got a bit of a flu, that's all," he said.

"Ugh; then stay far away from me," Buford warned while backing away. "I don't want to catch it next, not with a game coming up next week."

"It's not _that_ bad. But if it makes you feel better, I won't even _breathe_ in your direction, Bufe."

Isabella continued to study him worriedly. "Maybe you should go back home," she suggested.

Ferb removed Phineas' hand from his mouth. "Can't; our parents are probably gone by now to catch their plane," he replied. "They'll be gone until Sunday. Phineas wanted to attempt to survive a day of school."

"What for?"

"Initially, it was for lunch hour. But since I've told him it's out of the question—!"

"You _stole_ my _sketchbook_!" Phineas pointed out coldly.

Ferb and the others looked at him, and once Baljeet had finished giggling, Ferb grinned and continued: "Since I've told him otherwise, he's attempting to live through school until the rehearsal at three-thirty."

"You're staying for the play?" Isabella realized. She tried stopping a blush from reaching her cheeks; while Phineas had been chosen to play the role of Romeo, _she_ had coincidentally been chosen to play Juliet. Suddenly, the thought of Phineas coming to school just for the play sounded romantic.

"I rehearsed all weekend," Phineas pouted, not noticing Isabella's blush by the least.

Isabella sighed tiredly.

"But you also woke up in a cold sweat," Ferb pointed out.

The five-minute bell rang. While everyone looked up, Phineas moaned and covered his ears. "Great; now my head's ringing," he said sickly.

Buford groaned in reply and turned to walk off. "Before he starts complaining about tossing up dinner, I'm heading off to class," he grumbled. Baljeet quickly followed him off.

Ferb watched them leave before heaving a sigh and picking up Phineas' backpack. "Can you walk?" he asked.

"Since I was one, yes," Phineas mumbled tiredly before heading for class.

Ferb and Isabella were left to watch him leave before the girl laughed behind her hand. "He gets grumpy when he's really sick, doesn't he?" she noted.

"Not normally," Ferb replied as they left. "Only when he knows he's wrong."

*****


	3. Chapter 3

_"Phineas… Phineas_…Phineas, wake up!"

Something flat slapped down next to Phineas' ear, causing the fifteen-year-old to raise his head quickly in shock. Eyes wide, he stared at his surroundings.

He was in Science class, the second period of the morning. He had been able to live through English before that, but although he knew he had, he could hardly remember what had been taught in that class. The other students were speaking loudly amongst each other while the teacher searched his filing cabinet for something. Obviously, they had been given an assignment and the teenagers were all chattering about who they would be teamed up with.

The noise suddenly made him feel incredibly lightheaded. Ever since he had sat down at the table he and Ferb shared, his mind had fogged and blacked out. Now, after having hoped to have even a _bit_ of rest, Phineas woke up to Buford's hand slapping down on the surface of the table. And the doze had not made him feel the least bit better.

In fact, Phineas found himself believing that he felt even _worse. _

"Buford, you will give him a migraine!" Baljeet complained as Phineas subconsciously reached up and covered his eyes with his hands.

"Well, Isabella's been calling him for the past five minutes and he wasn't answering," Buford replied with a shrug.

Phineas messaged his face slowly and moaned behind his hands before feeling a hand rest upon his right shoulder. Peeking through his fingers, he turned his head.

Ferb was staring at him worriedly, a hand on his brother's back. Beside him, leaning over the table, was Isabella, looking just as concerned.

"Are you… feeling okay, Phineas?" Isabella asked meekly as Ferb pulled his hand away.

Phineas stared at her a moment longer before crossing his arms over the table and setting his head down on them. "Does 'I feel like I got hit by a sledgehammer' qualify as an answer?" he croaked sickly while staring across the table.

"Maybe Ferb should call your sister…"

At these words, Phineas tried raising his head, but only found that it began pounding with incredible pain. Whimpering, he wrapped his arms around it.

"Looks like his imagination just snapped and sent a shockwave into his brain," Buford muttered.

Phineas waited a moment before opening his eyes. "Don't call Candace," he pleaded tiredly.

Ferb leaned over. "But Phineas," he began.

"She's gonna _flip_ if she finds out that I could have just been dropped off at her place instead of going to school, Ferb," Phineas whined sickly. "I don't want to make her mad."

"I'm pretty sure your sister would make an exception, Phineas," Isabella reassured him.

"No, no she wouldn't. I feel fine—!"

"Fine?" Baljeet interrupted. He frowned and pointed at the red-head. "Phineas, you are probably two shades paler than you were before; you have got dark circles under your eyes, and shall I bother to bring up the fact that Ferb had to literally _carry_ you to science class?"

Phineas turned his head a little and looked at his stepbrother. "You had to carry me?" he muttered, slightly curious.

Ferb shrugged his shoulders while Isabella replied. "Well, more or less," the girl said. "You were still on your feet, but you were leaning against him most of the time. Your legs even gave in by the time you reached the class door."

Phineas stared blankly at her before burying his face in his arms. "I don't know what hurts more right now; my head, my stomach, or my imagination that's being forced into retirement," he mumbled.

"You need somewhere proper to sleep, Phineas," Isabella explained gently while reaching over and placing a hand over his. When he looked up, she added, "Somewhere better than a noisy classroom. You might start to feel better faster."

"But, but lunch hour's almost here… and I haven't thought of anything yet…" Phineas suddenly sounded very delirious.

"It's okay, you're sick."

"But I have the rehearsal tonight…"

Isabella opened her mouth to speak again, but to her surprise, Ferb held up his hand and stopped her. He shook his head. "He's rambling on because he's feverish," he explained. "The more you speak to him, the more confused he'll get. Just let him be."

Isabella pulled her hand away from Phineas' and nodded, just as the teacher stood up in front of the class and hushed everyone. She, Buford and Baljeet returned to their seats like all the others.

"… Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you…" Phineas sang weakly between his arms.

Ferb sighed and placed a hand over his brother's back, patting it gently. Even when he was sick, Phineas needed to occupy himself by doing _something_. Even if that meant humming or singing.

The teacher cleared his throat and held up a pack of papers. "Considering you are all sitting at double tables already, these will be your partners for the experiment," the man announced. "Next time, I'll choose who goes with who. But before we move on with the project, I want to make sure you all remember exactly what we studied last class together. The formulas you learned then are going to be essential for this experiment, lest you want to blow up the school…"

"Sweet!" Buford exclaimed, raising a fist and catching everyone's attention.

While most of the class laughed, the teacher rolled his eyes. "That was an exaggeration, Buford," the man sighed.

Phineas uncovered his eyes and looked up at the front of the class. "Whoa," he whispered, catching Ferb's attention. "Why am I seeing doubles? I don't _feel_ dizzy…"

Ferb was getting more and more concerned. He had seen Phineas get sick before, but not to the point that it was making him delirious like this. He had to find some way to call their sister.

"Back to the matter at hand," the teacher continued, "I'm going to ask each you a question, just to make sure you were all paying attention last class…" He pointed at a girl in the back. "… Gretchen Tell me…"

His voice began to trail off and echo, or at least that's what Phineas was hearing. He frowned in confusion and attempted to raise his head, but it suddenly felt as though it weighed a ton.

"…" was the response from the student.

"Good, good…" The teacher's voice faded in and out. "Isabella…me what…"

Phineas winced in attempt to keep everything in focus. His stomach suddenly felt incredibly hot.

"…"

"… ry good, correct…" The man finally pointed at the Flynn-Fletcher brothers. "Phineas, can you…"

Either his voice trailed off again, or else it had stopped completely. Which one, Phineas never found out; for at that instant, something made his nausea alarm go off in his head as the hot sensation shot up his throat. Phineas' eyes went wide as he instinctively covered his mouth and stood up, nearly startling his brother in the progress. Then, without picking up the stool he had knocked over, he dashed for the door as quickly as he could and ran into the hallway.

His actions had excited the class. People began murmuring amongst themselves as the teacher stared in complete shock at the doorway. After a moment, he turned his head and looked at Ferb for an explanation.

Ferb sighed tiredly and calmly rose to his feet. "May I be excused?" he asked. "I need to make an urgent call."

* * *

Phineas had been right; just as soon as Ferb had told Candace that she had to come and pick their brother up, his sister nearly flew off the handle. Apparently, she was trying to write out a list of things they needed for her and Jeremy's wedding in April, a list of gifts they would want, and a list of people to invite. If that was not bad enough already, she was also applying for music college, all the while making applications for part time jobs.

Ferb almost wanted to snap back, but he had never done so to his sister, nor did he ever want to make it a habit. Both he and Phineas had always looked upon Candace with the upmost respect. Instead, he decided to, as usual, bear it out in the same innocent manner Phineas always had.

Once Candace had ceased complaining, he took his chance. "It's only a ten minute drive, not even," he said as he walked down the hallway towards the washroom. His cellphone buzzed with his sister's angry shouts. After recoiling in bewilderment, he cleared his ear and continued: "Five minutes tops, then…" Ferb rolled his eyes. "I was instructed to call you if he got sick, so now I am calling you…" He arrived at the washrooms and placed his hand against the door. "Yes, Mum told me to… _No_, you don't need to get anything from the house; all we need is in the suitcases our parents dropped off… So you'll come?" Ferb pushed the door open and entered the washroom. "He ran out of class… Yes, I know where he went…" He stopped in front of the mirrors and sighed. "I'll grab his things and then we'll be waiting at the front desk… Bye."

Although he was more than relieved to be off of the phone with Candace, Ferb took a deep breath and got ready to face the next dilemma. As he tucked his phone away, he listened for the heavy breathing that echoed in the room and crossed his arms. "Must I honestly say that I _told_ you so?" he said, although trying his best not to sound cross.

There was a violent cough. "No, no you didn't have to say that," Phineas replied heavily. His voice was immediately followed by the sound of someone throwing up into a toilet.

Ferb pulled himself away from the sinks and walked up to the stall he assumed his brother was in. "What set it off?" he asked.

"Set what off; my nausea or my sudden burst of adrenaline?" Phineas replied after a short pause.

"I suppose both."

"I dunno. Maybe something in the lab that smelled. I guess I smell better when I'm sick. Go figure."

Ferb remained silent for the next few minutes and waited patiently for his brother to finish throwing up. Once the sound of the toilet flushing was heard, he pulled himself away from the door.

Phineas unlocked it and stepped out of the stall slowly, head down. Once he was out, he raised his head and looked at Ferb with tired eyes. "Okay, I give," he said pitifully. "So I wasn't as resilient as I had hoped to be… There's something you can cross out about Phineas Flynn, I suppose…"

Ferb noticed that his brother was treating this as a defeat and immediately reached out and placed a hand on Phineas' shoulder. With a warm smile, he said, "I wouldn't do that."

Phineas grinned weakly in reply before covering his mouth and coughing again. Ferb waited for him to finish before gently directing him to the exit. "Let's go get your things," he said softly.


	4. Chapter 4

Candace was furious. She had only just sat down with her fiancé an hour earlier to get things done after a warm shower when her stepbrother called and told her to come pick the youngest Flynn up. _Why_ was the question that gnawed at her brain: _why_ did she need to interrupt her morning to make a trip to her old high school? _Why_ did she have to say yes? _Why_ would Phineas even _think_ of going to school when he's got a fever?

"You're creative, you're optimistic, and you're incredibly stubborn," the twenty-year-old groaned as she drove her car down the street, "But could you be a little less _stupid?_ I can't keep making these blasted detours in my life because my too-young-to-drive-alone brothers are constantly messing things up! _Why_, Phineas? Why do you _have_ to try and be perfect?"

She knew very well that Phineas never tried being perfect. He only tried to improve, to be a better student, to be… well, himself. He had always been that way. He had always wanted to improve himself or the things he did, but never to the point that he wanted to be perfect or best at it. He was too humble for that.

Still, because Phineas had wanted to go to school even though he knew he was ill, Candace now had to sacrifice at _least_ half an hour of organizing. And for someone with as hectic a life as Candace, that was a big deal.

"Bad enough Mom and Dad dropped off their junk early in the morning, along with that darn platypus," she groaned again while putting the car into park in front of the school. While unbuckling her seatbelt, she stopped and wondered about the platypus' whereabouts since he was dropped off, but quickly brushed the thought aside and stepped out of the car.

In a huff, she stormed up to the front doors. Her red hair fluttered in the breeze as she tucked her keys into her pocket and grabbed the door handle. "Crazy Phineas and Ferb," she muttered behind her teeth while swinging the door open with immense force.

The office was to her left. Large windows wrapped around every outer wall that looked into a corridor. Sitting on a chair in the office, dressed for departure and hood over his head, back facing Candace, was her youngest brother. Standing across from him, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed, was Ferb, her sixteen-year-old brother.

Candace wrinkled her nose. "Why couldn't I have had two _sisters_ instead?" she muttered. Grabbing and turning the door handle, she pushed the door open as quickly as she could and stormed into the office.

Ferb immediately looked up at her. Candace stopped a few feet away, still behind the sitting Flynn, and placed her hands on her hips. "Well, I'm _here_ now," she said annoyingly as Phineas stood up slowly. "This had better be as bad as you told me it was, Ferb, or else I'll mention to Mom how much this has been a waste of my ti—!"

It was at that moment that Phineas turned around to face her. It was the first time Candace has seen her energetic little brother with so much color drained from his face and so much restlessness in his blue eyes. She had seen him sick before, but this was the worst she had ever seen him look.

Her fury immediately disappeared and was replaced with dismay. "Oh, my _God_!" she exclaimed in horror. Rushing over to her fifteen-year-old sibling, Candace pulled her gloves off of her hands and held Phineas' face. "Phineas, have you completely _lost_ it? You look like you're about to shrivel up and die!"

Phineas flinched weakly when Candace shouted his name, but that was all. Other than that, he continued to stare tiredly at her; for her sake, he even tried to force up a grin.

Candace noticed it. She could not believe how in this state, her brother was still trying to remain positive.

"He threw up for a good ten minutes or so before you got here," Ferb explained, catching his sister's attention. "Something in Science class must have made his stomach turn. Not that he was already sick before that, but…"

"You are the most annoying good kid I have ever known, Phineas Flynn," Candace said after a moment of silence. "Next time Mom, Dad or even _Ferb_ deem you too sick for school, just suck it up and listen to them, okay?"

To her surprise, Phineas nodded weakly. After studying him a little longer, Candace pulled herself away from him and gently pushed him towards the door.

Ferb held up his bag. "I'll bring the homework he misses," he said. "Just make sure he doesn't get a hold of any paper or pen."

Without a verbal reply, Candace nodded and began following Phineas out to the car. "See you after school, then," she said.

"More or less after the rehearsal. But yes. See you later, Candace."

* * *

"I can't believe you would be stupid enough to pull a stunt like that, Phineas," Candace complained, although she did it in a much calmer and concerned tone. As she drove down the streets back to her house, she stole a glance at her brother, sitting in the passenger's seat with his head against the cold glass. "I thought you were smart enough not to I mean, you're smart enough to do all those _other_ crazy things."

"I already went over this with Ferb this morning on the bus, Candace," Phineas muttered weakly. "I don't want to restart."

"But didn't you know it was a dumb idea?"

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Who cares now, anyway?"

Candace turned down another street. "Obviously, Ferb cared," she said softly.

Phineas sighed heavily and hugged himself. "I know it was dumb, and I regret it now," he said. "Because now I know that I'll probably be sick an extra day since I tried to suck it up in class…" His eyes saddened. "And that means… an extra day without doing anything… or inventing anything…"

Candace took pity over him. Even at the age of fifteen, Phineas reminded her of that ten-year-old who had changed summer vacation.

"… Or draw, or play guitar…" Phineas' voice began to drift off as he continued going down the list. "… Or sleep with Perry…" This suddenly caused him to sit upright and look at his sister. "Where _is_ Perry, anyway?" he wondered.

Candace shrugged. "He came in with Mom and Dad, and went back out an hour ago," she replied. "He's probably out and about again. You know he always disappears around this time of day."

Phineas sighed heavily again and lay his head against the window. "Yeah," he whispered. Of course, he already knew where it was exactly that Perry disappeared to, so he was not as concerned about it as he had been as a child.

Candace remained silent for a while. But just as Phineas was about to close his eyes, she cleared her throat gently. "Ferb mentioned that you had that _Romeo and Juliet_ play rehearsal tonight," she said. "Is that… the reason why you wanted to go to school, Phineas?"

Her brother shifted positions. "Sorta," he replied. "Though I also wanted to do it… for lunch hour. I thought I'd be able to stay there until then… But then Ferb refused to give me back my sketchbook, anyway, so I guess it never really mattered…"

"You mean you wanted to go to school sick _just_ to keep up your inventing streak?" his sister said in disbelief. "Phineas, are you actually _serious_? Why can't you just not do something when you're sick for a change? You can never _not_ do something, can you? Is that the _only_ thing you can't do right?" When she received no reply, Candace sighed in exasperation. "Phineas, why can't you just relax when you're not feeling well? Why does inventing always have to be on your to-do list? I don't want it to kill you one day." She turned her head to look at him. "I don't want your hobby to kill you like it killed—!"

She stopped in her words. Phineas had already drifted off to sleep against the window, finally giving into his lack of energy. His chest went up and down gently with every breath he took.

Candace remained as she was in silence before finally cracking a weak grin and looking down the street once more. "Never mind," she said softly, deciding to let him sleep.

* * *

Jeremy had decided to continue the organization for his wedding when Candace had been called to Phineas and Ferb's high school. On one hand, he felt bad that Phineas would be yelled at by his sister; but on the other hand, he did think that it was absurd that the fifteen-year-old would go to school when he was clearly sick.

But it was Phineas; Jeremy had taken a liking to him and Ferb when he first started liking Candace. Never had he met any children who had more energy and imagination than those two.

Phineas still took the cake, though. Literally. And what made Jeremy laugh about that metaphor was that he often cut the cake into pieces and passed it around—meaning that he never kept any of the credit for only himself.

The front door opened while the blond-haired twenty-year-old was digging through the fridge. "Jeremy can you come here for a sec?" Candace's voice called out from the entrance.

Jeremy pulled himself out of the fridge. "Sure," he replied, walking towards the door. "What did you need?"

"Help draggin' in the roadkill."

It was only when he arrived outside by the car that Jeremy understood. He choked on a laugh when he saw Candace attempt to drag out her little brother. "Finally gave in, huh?" he chuckled.

"Funny," his fiancée replied. "Could you grab his feet? I'd rather not wake him up. Ferb said he was having trouble walking without his legs turning into noodles."

The two adults carefully carried the sleeping teenager into the house. "Boy, does he usually sleep like a rock?" Jeremy wondered.

"Are you kidding me? Phineas is the kid who will wake up in the middle of the night if he hears me yelling at myself under three feet of pillows," Candace replied sarcastically. "He's the lightest yet soundest sleeper I've ever known. Seriously."

"Then why isn't he waking up?"

"He's probably too sick to care—or too lazy."

They were about to reach the stairs to the second floor when Phineas let out a soft laugh. "More like too much in pain," he croaked.

"Wow; he really _is_ a light sleeper," Jeremy said in awe while ascending the stairs backwards.

"You're in pain now?" Candace asked worriedly.

Phineas coughed. "Stomach…" he muttered before drifting off again.

"Okay, he's beginning to worry me," Candace announced. "Phineas _never_ gets this sick. The worst I've seen is him with the chicken pox. He never even caught the mumps from Ferb when he got them, for cryin' out loud."

"Maybe he just overdid it at school, Candace," Jeremy reassured her. "Let's just get him up to the spare bedroom and make him comfortable. I'll put together some chicken soup; you can relax and then go back to applying for schools."

"How can I relax now?" Candace complained. "My parents are gone to Chicago, and my brother is sick and is now complaining about pain. How is that relaxing? I feel like I've become the _mother_ overnight… no, make that morning."

Jeremy sighed. "Fine; I'll look up abdominal pains then," he said, kicking the spare bedroom door open. "How does that sound?"

Phineas moaned weekly and tried looking up at his sister. "Can I draw?" he asked.

"Nice try, Wise Guy, but Ferb told me not to let you do anything until you're well again," Candace replied. When all Phineas did was moan in despair, the woman cracked a weak grin. "Just get some rest, Phin, and you should be able to draw again in no time."


	5. Chapter 5

Ferb thought he would be able to last the rest of the day without any upsetting thought; Phineas had finally gone home with Candace, so he was in good hands.

But something did not feel right. It was as though he had missed a small detail, a detail that seemed incredibly important. A detail that, if overlooked, could mean deadly consequences.

It had something to do with Phineas, he just knew it.

It made Ferb fidgety and anxious to take the city bus to Candace's home after rehearsal. It was very unusual for him; he hardly if ever became this anxious. Especially about Phineas. Proud, absolutely; frustrated, every now and then; but anxious? Not possible.

Something was wrong with this picture.

Once the day had ended, Ferb, along with his friends, immediately gathered his things and hurried to the auditorium for the two hour rehearsal. Buford and Baljeet both had acting roles as well, though they were thankful not to have as many lines to practice as Phineas and Isabella did. Isabella, as had been mentioned earlier, was playing as the leading female, but without her crush there to rehearse with her, the role of Juliet was even more dull than practicing her lines alone was.

At first, it felt odd, having the director step in and fill Phineas' place as Romeo—Ferb noticed that Isabella was not the least bit pleased about it herself. When they rehearsed Shakespeare's most famous scene in that play, where Romeo is standing outside Juliet's window, Isabella seemed to force herself to stay in character. Whenever the director had his back turned, Ferb noticed his friend glare at him and mutter something about Phineas being better than him. Her grimaces made Ferb smile secretly before returning to his work with the group of classmates he worked with.

Their teacher overlooked the project; even she seemed concerned about Phineas' absence.

Ferb had been given the role of prop director, since he had never really been interested in acting. He designed most of the items they used in the play, and he gave orders to the students who worked backstage with him. He had always preferred working on the sidelines—the only time he had not was back when he and Phineas had played as a superhero for a day. Other than that, Ferb had liked being in charge of what happened off scene.

When the rehearsal was through, Ferb, accompanied by Isabella, rushed to the bus stop down the street and waited for the right bus to take them to Candace's neighbourhood. Although he was more than certain that his neighbour from across the street was eager to see how her childhood crush was doing, Ferb was more than certain that his concern for his stepbrother topped Isabella's that day.

"Hi, Jeremy," Isabella greeted upon entering the house.

Jeremy looked up from his work on his laptop and grinned. He was sitting on a chair at the dining table. "Hey, Isabella," he replied. Looking at Ferb as the teenager removed his black leather jacket, he added, "Hey, Ferbster. You look preoccupied."

Ferb grinned weakly in reply while smoothing out his dark purple vest. Then he looked about.

"If you're wondering where Perry is, he's still out somewhere…"

Ferb shook his head quickly; like Phineas, he knew about the platypus' whereabouts now. That was not concerning him. He was about to open his mouth and speak when Candace came walking down the stairs.

The woman stopped in her tracks upon seeing both teenagers. "Uh, hi Ferb," she said. "… And Isabella…" Raising an eyebrow, she looked at Ferb again. "What's she doing here?" she wondered. "A third kid was not in the deal, Ferb."

"Play practice," Isabella replied before Ferb could. "I need to rehearse my lines. Is Phineas here?"

"Uh, yes, he's up in the spare bedroom but—!"

Before she could finish, Ferb dropped his bag and dashed up the stairs, nearly knocking Candace over. After doing the same with her things, Isabella followed him.

"Wait! Ferb, come back!" his sister exclaimed.

* * *

Ferb took no heed of his sister's shouts as he ran up the stairs. He stretched his legs out so that he could successfully climb two stairs in a single bound. All that was on his mind was checking up on his brother.

"You think he'd want to practice with us?" Isabella asked as they turned the corner upon reaching the second floor.

Without replying, Ferb shrugged. Reaching the designated bedroom door, he turned the knob and peered into the dark room. The room was very small, with nothing but two dressers, a small closet in the far left corner, and a single window over the bed.

The door creaked when it moved, and the sound made whoever was in the bed stir and change positions. Once the person had turned over onto his side, Ferb recognized the dark silhouette of Phineas.

Isabella placed a hand on her mouth in order not to let any noise out. Phineas seemed to be sleeping, but every now and then his face would cringe weakly, as though he was over going waves of pain. His shoes, socks, hoodie and even jeans were all sprawled over the floor, along with his bag, in a large mess. An empty icecream pail sat on the floor next to the bed. A wet cloth had been spread over the teenager's forehead. When the light from the hallway fell over his face, Phineas groaned weakly and pulled the covers up a bit to cover the end of his nose.

Ferb and Isabella continued to look on until a sound behind them caused them to turn.

"Ferb! Isabella!" Candace snapped softly from the stairs. Frown on her brow and teeth clenched, she pointed over her shoulder. "Get _over_ here _now!"_

The two teenagers stared at her in silence before finally closing the door and walking towards her.

"I don't want either of you in that room, is that clear?" Candace warned sternly. "It was hard enough to get him to sleep in the first place. If you wake him up, he won't get back to sleep until you give him back that crazy sketchbook!"

"Has he wanted to draw all day?" Isabella wondered.

"Duh. It's Phineas. He never really asked for it, but I could tell that he wanted it back. The only time he asked for something to draw on verbally was when I woke him up to take some cough medicine. He's been coughing up a storm and throwing up all afternoon too."

"Has he eaten anything?" Ferb asked.

Candace looked at him and worry filled her eyes. "Nothing," she replied. "We made him some chicken soup, but he said he wasn't hungry. Which is weird, since he usually _loves_ chicken soup. Jeremy did a bit of research on it, but we didn't find anything that could be of any use."

"What do you mean?"

Candace was startled to hear the sudden concern in Ferb's voice. She stared at him in silence for a moment before clearing her throat and pointing at her stomach. "Phin mentioned that his stomach was hurting really bad," she answered. "Didn't specify where, only that it hurt. Jeremy and I had to carry him out of the car because you said he seemed to have difficulty walking. Phin said that it was because his stomach was hurting."

"And you haven't found anything useful about his pain?" Ferb asked, becoming more and more concerned by the second.

Candace remained silent before placing her hands on her brother's shoulders. "Ferb, Jeremy's still trying to look up info," she said. "The best we can do for now is keep him as comfortable as possible. I'm trying my best not to worry about it, so you might as well try your best too, okay?" She smiled pitifully. "You know Phineas, Ferb; he hates it when people make worry the dominant emotion… Especially if it's you or me."

Ferb knew this to be true; on occasion, when Candace was worried about something, Phineas would find a way to make her forget her concerns. He even did the same with Ferb, although it was never as often with him as it was with Candace. In the simplest of ways, Phineas had been able to keep their hopes up.

With a heavy sigh, Ferb nodded his head in agreement. So did Isabella. Candace pulled her hands away and pointed down the hallway. "Since Phineas is sick and I don't want you catching it, I think it would be best if you spend the week in the next bedroom, Ferb," she explained. "You can visit him once he's awake, but the last thing I need is _two_ sick brothers, thank you."

The idea was odd; Ferb had never spent a single night in a room separated from Phineas'. Their beds had always been at least four feet apart from each other—it was the only way they could properly shoot popcorn at each other with their slingshots.

Or… share ideas with each other at night.

But he complied anyhow and left to help Isabella practice her lines. With just one last glance at Phineas' room, Ferb passed by the door and headed for the next room.

* * *

Seven o'clock saw Isabella out the door. She had wanted to get a better glance at her crush, but because Candace was refusing to let anyone into the room, she was forced to spend the evening with Ferb.

Which would not have been an entirely bad thing, had the sixteen-year-old been less preoccupied about his brother's health.

Ferb helped her rehearse her lines until six, and after dinner, the two played video games until Isabella's mother came to pick her up. Once the girl was gone, Ferb went upstairs and decided to peek into his brother's room while Candace was visiting him.

He found Perry lying by the door, looking preoccupied. On any normal occasion, Perry would not care if either of the boys were ill; he would simply leave the room and only return once they were well again. Phineas had once mentioned that when he first received Perry as a gift from his biological father, Perry would throw fits if he was not allowed to enter his owner's room when he was ill. Now that he was older, the platypus had learned that a sick human was no good for an animal. He loved Phineas and Ferb very much, but would avoid them at all costs if they were threats to his health, considering he was a secret agent.

But there he was, lying outside Phineas' door, a worried frown over his brow.

Ferb noticed it. "Mission was a success?" he asked, catching the platypus' attention.

Perry looked up at him and frowned softly before passing his fingers before his bill as if closing a zipper. It was the sign he gave to both boys if they said something about him that was supposed to be a secret.

Ferb shrugged in reply. "I'll take that as a yes," he muttered. When the animal settled down again, he looked at the door. "Worried?"

Perry did not look up.

"Since when do _you_ get worried when we're sick?"

Perry shot him an irritated glare. This only amused Ferb, considering he was still getting used to the fact that his pet platypus was not as mindless as they had once thought he was. After a moment, though, Perry looked at the foot of the door and worry settled into his eyes again.

Ferb knew that the platypus was feeling the same way as him; something was off. There was something about the pain Phineas was feeling. Something more.

"If it helps, I'm worried too," the teenager sighed. He looked at the door again. "Phineas never gets sick this bad." Looking at Perry once more, just as the platypus raised his head and stared back, Ferb added, "Would… you know something about it?"

Perry blinked and shook his head before setting it down again. Obviously, it was not in his domain to know about medical issues.

Ferb heaved a sigh after deciding against peeking into the room. Pulling himself away from the door frame, he headed for the other bedroom. He decided to simply wait and see if Candace would allow him to enter. If not—Ferb knew he'd regret doing it, but—he would call Phineas on his cellphone.


	6. Chapter 6

Candace poured a teaspoon of cough medicine out and held up the cutlery. "Open the hatch, Phinny," she announced. She found it completely odd that she had to feed her brother his medicine, but considering the teenager was not strong enough to raise his head or hand, there was no way he would be able to pour the liquid into his mouth himself.

Phineas was in no condition to object, either. All he did was silently open his mouth as wide as he could and let Candace give him the medicine.

"Okay, that's done," the nineteen-year-old sighed after setting the spoon down. Shaking a thermometer, she held it out to the teenager again. "Don't bite on it this time."

Phineas exhaled loudly through his nose once he had closed his mouth around the thermometer and let his eyelids fall over his eyes.

Candace observed him as she waited for the thermometer to be ready. _He looks so pale, so fragile, so… so_ not _Phineas_, she thought. Jeremy had not yet found anything helpful on abdominal pain, which was only making Candace fret even more than she normally did for her brother. Because Phineas hated worrying people, he would never tell them exactly where the pain was coming from.

At least, he would not tell _her._

The thermometer beeped. Tiredly, Phineas opened his eyes halfway and stared at it as his sister pulled it out of his mouth.

Candace read the readings and then set it aside. "Well," she sighed, "You've still got a fever."

"Lemme guess," Phineas croaked; "I'm not allowed to draw anything either, right?"

"You can't drop that, can you?"

"I've got another idea and it's killing me not to set it down on paper, Candace."

Candace passed a hand over her face. "Phineas, even if I _wanted_ to let you draw, Ferb's the one who's got your sketchbook," she pointed out. "Not to mention that you can't even lift your own head up off of that pillow."

Phineas sighed heavily and closed his eyes again. "If I fall asleep now, will I be better tomorrow morning?" he asked.

"That depends on your body, Phin, not me," Candace replied while standing up. Hesitating for a moment, she leaned over her brother and pecked his cheek.

Phineas opened his eyes and watched her lean away from him again. Curiosity flooded his irises.

Candace pointed at him. "That didn't happen," she said, but there was a smile on her lips. "At least, not in Mom's book. Got it?"

Phineas cracked a weak grin before closing his eyes again. "Okay," he replied. "But it's engraved in mine."

Candace rolled her eyes amusingly before walking to the exit. Hardly having the chance to open the door and step into the hallway, she heard a familiar chattering noise and looked down at her feet in shock. Perry, as mindless as ever, was standing next to the door.

"Oh there you are, Perry," Candace said sarcastically, imitating her little brother every time the platypus reappeared. When the animal made a move to slip into the room, which completely surprised the girl, Candace frowned and pushed him back with her foot. "Uh, _I_ don't think so, Daffy Duck," she said. "The _very_ last thing I need is taking a sick platypus to the vet. And considering you're an exotic pet, you'll cost a fortune. So shoo."

Phineas shifted beneath his covers and managed to lift his head just a little in order to see what was happening. "Let him in," he asked.

Candace shook her head. "Phineas, he's going to catch your flu," she replied. "Animals are capable of doing that, you know. And he'll cost me a fortune to get checked."

"I'll pay for it, then, if he does."

"Phineas—!"

"He won't get sick… Just leave the door open a smidge and he can leave when he wants to, Candace. Please?"

Candace hated it when Phineas looked so desperate. After a reluctant pause, she sighed and pulled her foot away from the platypus. Instantly, the animal rushed into the room and leaped onto the bed, where he settled down at Phineas' feet, eyes on the boy. The teenager settled down again and closed his eyes.

"Why you and Ferb are so attached to that thing, I'll never know," Candace complained. "He's a platypus… he doesn't, you know, _do_ much."

Phineas grinned for a second or two. "You'd be surprised," he replied before drifting off.

Candace raised an eyebrow and sighed again before finally leaving the room.

* * *

Once Ferb had completed his homework, he went to ask Candace if he could see Phineas. But to his dismay, she told him that he was sleeping again.

"You should have come earlier," she said.

"But you would have told me to leave anyway!" Ferb complained. "Why can't I go in there? You let _Perry_ in, for Heaven's sake."

"Since when do you _complain_ so much?" Candace noticed. "Isn't it Phineas' job to be the talking half of the duo?"

"FYI, Candace, Phineas is in bed," Ferb pointed out.

"What's gotten into you?"

"His health, that's what!"

Candace fell silent. Now she understood why her stepbrother was so upset. He too, had noticed the alarming abdominal pain issue, and it was making him just as anxious as his sister. Resting a hand on his shoulder, Candace said, "Going in there and worrying him is only going to make him feel worse, Ferb. You know Phineas. We both need to calm down."

Ferb was not comforted by these words. "But what if it's something serious?" he asked. "Phineas never gets ill like this. Do you think my taking his sketchbook away made him go bonkers or something?"

"I _highly_ doubt that the sketchbook is the cause of this, Ferb," Candace said sardonically. "Jeremy's writing down all of his symptoms, just in case he notices something strange. His uncle's a doctor; if anyone would notice something odd, he would."

Ferb wanted to find something else to say, but when nothing came to mind, he simply thanked Candace for _attempting_ at reassuring him. Then, he headed back up the stairs.

Arriving in his room, he closed the door, sat down on his bed and pulled out his cellphone.

* * *

_"My backyard beach, my backyard beach, nothing's out of reach in the backyard beach…"_

Phineas winced and opened his eyes. He could hear the muffled sound of his cellphone, somewhere on the floor, far out of reach. It was singing one of the several songs he and his friends had sung over summer. _Backyard Beach_ had been sung by his stepbrother.

Which immediately told him who was issuing the call.

But there was no way he could get out of bed. With a moan, he weakly nudged Perry with his foot. "Perry, could you bring me my cellphone, please?" he asked tiredly.

Perry raised his head and, although he did not like the nudge in the side, complied and jumped off of the bed. On his back feet he walked about, listening for the origin of the phone; once he had located it and had dug into Phineas' pant pocket to grab it, he ran to the head of the bed and held it up.

Phineas stuck his hand out of the covers and grabbed it. Once the platypus had returned to his spot on the bed, Phineas flipped his phone open and held it to his ear. "You're calling me from the next room, Ferb?" he croaked.

_"Candace isn't letting me into_ your _room, that's why_," was his stepbrother's reply.

"Okay; lemme put my phone on speaker." Setting his phone down on the lampstand next to the bed, Phineas held down the speaker button and then released it. "Can you hear me?" he asked, tucking his hand beneath the covers again.

_"Yes. Can you hear me_?" Ferb replied.

"Loud an' clear, Bro."

_"Are you feeling alright? Candace told me you had abdominal pains. You think you may have a hernia or something?"_

Phineas opened his eyes again. "What's a hernia?" he joked.

_"That's not funny, Phineas. I'm really worried about you."_

"Dude, since when do you worry about me?"

_"Since I moved in with you. You're my best friend."_

Phineas cracked a grin. "I love it when you start yackin' away," he muttered, hardly moving his lips. "You say the sweetest things."

_"I also know how to swing a wrench nicely too_," came the reply. But after Phineas made the effort to laugh, he could hear Ferb chuckling as well.

"I won't argue that," Phineas said, closing his eyes again.

There was a moment of silence before Ferb cleared his throat. _"Call me crazy, but I've got a really bad feeling about you being sick this time round, Phineas_," he said. _"Something's amiss. I've never heard you complain about pain this much before."_

"I'm not complaining, though I will call you crazy."

_"Isn't it worrying you?"_

Phineas sighed and hugged his pillow. "Ferb, I told you this morning that I never _cared_ when I got sick, remember?" he muttered. "Besides; we had that spicy taco salad at Isabella's house on Sunday evening. Maybe the peppers aren't agreeing with my stomach. You know how sensitive my stomach gets if I eat too much foreign food. Not to mention I _did_ push myself to go to school, remember?"

_"I dunno, Phineas; what if you're wrong?"_

Phineas opened his eyes. "This is beginning to bug you, isn't it?" he guessed.

_"Like heck, yes. You_ never _get this sick, Phineas. Even Candace is getting concerned. Do you know where the origin of your pain is?"_

The red-headed fifteen-year-old sighed tiredly again. "Ferb," he whispered.

_"What?"_

"Get in here."

_"But Candace said—!"_

"Who _cares_ what Candace said right now, okay? I'm used to sharing a room with you, so move all of your things in here and come keep me company before I die of solitude and depression."

_"But that bed's a single bed, Phineas. And there's only one in there."_

"Grab extra blankets and set up on the floor."

_"Are you sure? What if_ I _get sick?"_

Phineas opened an eye and grinned. "Since when did you ever care about that?" he asked. "We've been getting sick together since we were three, Dude."

There was silence at the other end.

"Just get in here, Ferb."

The line at the other end hung up. Phineas reached for his phone and closed it before tucking his hand back beneath the sheets.

A few minutes later, his door opened and in walked Ferb, bag and suitcase in his hands.

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Phineas teased through a yawn.

Ferb grinned weakly before closing the door behind him. Setting his things down, he looked at Perry and narrowed his eyes. "I should swap my brain with his," he muttered. "Then I'd get first dibs on everything."

At these words, Perry glared at him and growled while wrapping his arms around his head. One of the boys' first inventions had swapped Perry's brain with Candace's. Though no bad side effects had come of it, he was still going to refuse to get anywhere near them if they built a machine like that again.

Phineas giggled weakly before coughing, just as Ferb laughed and rubbed the platypus' head. "I'm just kidding, Perry," he replied.

Ferb set up several blankets and his sleeping bag on the floor once he had moved all of Phineas' discarded clothes aside. Once he had made himself a comfortable bed, Perry slid off of Phineas' and settled down next to Ferb as the teenager got on his stomach.

"Why are you getting so worried all of a sudden?" Phineas asked. "I mean, I've only been sick for a day, Ferb."

Ferb shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno," he replied. "I guess I just felt as though I had missed something."

"You always felt like that. That's why you're better at building than I am. You always find something that could be wrong and you fix it."

"Tis a pity that I can't fix whatever's wrong with you, huh?"

Phineas grinned while closing his eyes. "I'm not busted, Ferb," he said. After a slight pause, he added, in a much more irritated tone, "And I'm not cracked, either. So don't even say it."

Ferb laughed softly before resting his chin on his arms. "How was your afternoon?" he whispered.

"Eventful. I tossed up breakfast at noon, had some Buckley's at two, threw that up, tried living with cramps while attempting to snooze, threw up again, and then threw up some more." Phineas inhaled deeply. "Those were events I had never planned to put on my to-do list, but since I've been grounded from drawing by my brother, I had to fill my day up with _something_, I guess." After Ferb had finished chuckling, Phineas asked; "What about you? How'd lunch and the rehearsal go?"

Ferb looked up at him. "To be honest, quite boring," he replied.

"Pity."

"Want to hear about it?"

Phineas shifted positions. "I may doze off, but if you don't mind, please," he whispered. "I need to hear something other than Candace's constant frets. She's gonna give me gray hairs one of these days."

His brother laughed again before telling him what had happened that day at school.

* * *

Candace and Jeremy had been downstairs for most of the evening, and at first, they took no heed of Ferb's silence. It had never bothered them before, and so both came to the conclusion that he had simply slipped into the TV room to play a few games.

But by the time his ten o'clock curfew had come and gone, and _still_ no sight or sound of the green-haired sixteen-year-old, Candace knew that something was up.

Her first instinct was to shout at him to get to bed—she knew that he had undoubtedly gone in to visit Phineas against her wishes. But when she and Jeremy opened the door to the first spare bedroom, neither of them did anything of the sort. Instead, they looked on in silent wonder.

"No matter how old those two get, they just can't stay more than ten feet away from each other, can they?" Jeremy said with a soft chuckle. Ferb, now in his pyjamas, was lying on his bed of blankets on the floor, wrapped snugly in his sleeping bag. Perry was sleeping at his feet, curled in a ball to keep warm. Phineas, one arm hanging limply over the side of the bed, was also out for the night, on his side facing Ferb.

Candace rolled her eyes with a sigh before they entered the room. "I will _never_ understand what holds these two together all the time," she muttered, stopping near Ferb as Jeremy walked over to Phineas. "It's like if imaginary superglue is keeping them joined like a curse. That's why Isabella couldn't get Phineas to go out anywhere with her alone; he _always_ had to bring Ferb along."

Jeremy gently grabbed Phineas' arm and began to carefully push the teenager back a little in his bed, in order not to have him roll onto the floor. Phineas groaned only once but did not open his eyes. "His pail is still empty," Jeremy whispered. "So he hasn't thrown up again, unless Ferb cleaned it out for him."

Candace looked at him as he continued to tuck Phineas in. When the sleeping bag at her feet stirred, she stared at it.

Ferb winced and then opened his eyes halfway. Once he had recognized the pair of feet before him, he raised his gaze until he met his sister's.

Candace made a grimace. "If you were younger, I'd pick you up and toss you out," she said. After a pause, she grinned. "But considering you're not, I'll pretend you weren't here."

Ferb grinned tiredly yet gratefully in reply before closing his eyes again and drifting off.


	7. Chapter 7

Morning arrived faster than anyone in that house could have expected. When Ferb awoke, he found that Perry had already disappeared—probably off to foil his enemy's plans again. When the teenager got out of his sleeping bag and gathered his things to take a shower and change in the washroom, he could hear Candace and Jeremy talking in the kitchen. They were obviously up doing some more research on abdominal pain.

The shower did him some good. It seemed as though the warm water washed away most of his worries for Phineas. Although he knew the feeling was still there to haunt him, he was not going to let it bother him for that morning.

When he returned to the spare bedroom, Phineas was sitting up in bed.

"And you're _sure_ you didn't match anything up?" Candace asked, leaning over her fiancé's chair as he typed on his laptop.

"Trust me, Candace; I've been looking things up since yesterday," Jeremy replied. "If I had found something useful about abdominal pains, I would have told you already."

The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs caught their attention. Down came Ferb, dressed in his usual black coat and his school bag over his shoulder. He had on his trademark white shirt and purple vest, along with his dark khaki pants and black converse shoes. His hair was combed in the natural messy look it normally was.

Skipping down the stairs behind him, dressed in his orange-striped hoodie, baggy jeans and blue converses, was none other than a healthy, cheerful-looking Phineas Flynn.

Candace and Jeremy stared at the red-head in surprise. "Uh, you're feeling better already?" Candace wondered.

Phineas looked at her as he reached the bottom of the stairs and smiled brightly. "Yep!" he replied in his usual cheerful tone. Pointing at himself, he added, "I got dressed myself too, if you wanted to know."

Candace shot him a tedious look, although Jeremy was already laughing behind his hand. Phineas simply shrugged in reply and dropped his school bag onto the floor before walking into the kitchen with Ferb and searching for something to eat.

"Did you check your temperature?" Candace asked.

Phineas stood on his tippy-toes and reached for a glass on an out-of-reach counter. "Yep," he replied. "I'm still a little hot, but it's no biggie." He got down from the tips of his toes and looked at Ferb. "Uh, mind lending a hand, Big Guy?" he asked.

"Phineas, maybe you should stay home from school just an extra day," Jeremy suggested as Ferb grabbed a glass for his brother. "It's best if you rested for a full 24 to 48 hours before you did anything that asks for energy."

"Jeremy, I feel perfectly fine," Phineas reassured him as he filled his glass with orange juice. "I was able to sit up myself, I didn't feel dizzy when I stood up, I got into my own clothes myself, and I'm here now, getting myself breakfast… or at least something to drink, since I'm not really hungry…"

"I'd rather you stayed at home, Phin," Candace said, suddenly a little concerned.

"I said I feel fine, Candace. Besides; I've already missed a day of rehearsing _and_ inventing… Which means, now that I can finally put my imagination to good use—!"

"—You're not getting the sketchbook back yet, Phineas," Ferb interrupted.

Phineas gaped in shock and then glared at his brother, making Jeremy chuckle. "What?" he exclaimed. "But you said you'd give it back when I was better!"

"Correct," Ferb agreed behind his glass of milk. "But you're not officially well yet; not until that fever's completely down."

His brother groaned before pointing at Ferb. "If I go another day without drawing something when I feel _great_, my brain is going to explode!" he cried out. "I _need_ my daily dosage of inventing, Ferb! I—!"

"—know what we're gonna do today," Ferb, Candace and Jeremy replied in unison.

Phineas fell silent again before narrowing his eyes and crossing is arms, an action that made the others giggle. "Catchphrase stealers," he mumbled.

Ferb put his glass down. "Phineas, even if I did give it back, we wouldn't have time to _do_ anything today," he replied. "We've got a rehearsal at lunch hour, remember?"

Phineas stared at him blankly before his face lit up. "Oh, right!" he gasped. "Mrs. Parkson wanted to move next week's rehearsal to today because she'll be out of town for the next three weeks."

"When were you presenting that play anyway?" Candace wondered.

Phineas and Ferb looked at her. "End of April," Phineas replied. "About a week before your get together and wedding. We were _gonna_ do it at the end of this semester, but because her daughter's just had a baby and she needs help until her husband's back from Iraq, our teacher wanted to start early with us and practice gradually. Plus, since we're in the Christmas banquet and play with band and singing, we don't really have much time to practice fully. We'll be starting official rehearsals after Christmas."

Candace listened to him silently, but she could not help but to feel the least bit concerned about letting her brother go to school still. So while she spoke, she studied him. Phineas _looked_ like he had recovered, but it was still too early to tell; and the color in his face was not yet fully restored. Plus, when Candace looked closely, she could have sworn that his hands were shaking.

It pulled her mind back into her worry as Phineas finished speaking. After a moment of silence, Candace pointed at her little brother. "Phineas, I _really_ think you should stay home one more day," she said, almost as a plea. "You still look a little sick."

Phineas did not roll his eyes; he only smiled compassionately. "Candace, I feel perfectly fine now," he said.

His sister, nor Jeremy, for that matter, looked convinced. "How's your stomach?" Jeremy asked.

Phineas looked at himself before looking at his future brother-in-law. "Well, it still hurts a _little_," he said. "But it's probably just a cramp, Jeremy. I've had loads of those…"

As he spoke, even Ferb began to show signs of worry again. He looked at Phineas and then shared the same concern as his sister when he looked up at her. Candace bit her bottom lip before staring at Phineas again. "Phin, I think it would be a _lot_ better if you just stayed," she repeated. "Please."

Phineas looked at her in silence before sighing and grabbing his bag. "I don't want you to worry so much," he replied very gently. He smiled again. "If it makes you feel better, I'll give you a call on my cell if I decide that it's too much, okay?"

Ferb had always been in awe at how grownup Phineas could sound sometimes. The way he reassured people when they were worried was astounding. Often, he wondered how someone as energetic, childlike and creative could be so docile and in control of a situation, all at once.

Phineas was certainly something.

After considering it once more, Candace finally gave in and allowed her youngest brother to go to school for the day. Because they were far out of the way of any school bus, Phineas and Ferb had to be driven to school by Jeremy, before the man headed off for work.

Phineas was giddy as they entered Jeremy's vehicle and then departed. It was almost as though he had never been sick.

But Ferb had noticed the same things that Candace had noticed about the red-head. And he still had that same foreboding feeling that something was out of place.

If Phineas was no longer sick, then why was he still feeling that way about him?

* * *

"Phineas!"

Phineas hardly had the chance to turn around after putting his jacket away in his locker when Isabella squealed happily and leaped into his arms. He shouted in surprise as she leaped towards him and only gasped softly in pain when her arms wrapped around his waist.

Ferb heard it. Secretely, he gave his brother a worried glance.

He was not certain if Isabella noticed it or not; she did recoil quickly and let go of her neighbour, but Ferb was uncertain if she did so out of shock of having hurt him or out of fear of giving away her true feelings. Clearing her throat, she regained composure, smoothed out her sweater, and pushed back her hair. "Sorry, about that," she said with a soft giggle. Isabella clasped her hands together and beamed. "Oh, Phineas; it's so nice to see you back to your old self."

Phineas steadied himself and gingerly dusted himself off as though trying not to cause himself any more pain. Then, he looked up and smiled at her. "So far, I am," he replied. "My stomach still hurts a bit, but you won't see me complaining. Especially with the rehearsal at lunch hour."

The word _rehearsal_ brightened Isabella's eyes; Ferb could have sworn he saw hearts dancing in them again. "Oh, yeah! The rehearsal!" Isabella leaned towards her crush. "I've been practicing my lines; how about you?"

"Of course," he replied. "Although it's only going to happen in April, so I'm not that worried about it yet, Isabella. I've got plenty of time to learn my lines by heart."

"Maybe," Isabella began sweetly, leaning closer and closer to Phineas, "We could practice our lines together sometime. You know, since you're Romeo and I'm _Juliet." _

Ferb noticed the hint. Amusingly, he looked over at Phineas again, to see if his brother noticed it.

Phineas was leaning back against the lockers, his smile gone. Eyes wide, he stared at the girl with befuddlement in them. His cheeks turned incredibly red. "Uuuuhhhh, y-y-yeah, Izzie," he replied slowly. "Y-y-you know we can."

"We could even set up a romantic scene in your backyard," Isabella added, almost _too_ obviously.

Phineas did not make any sound. He only glued himself against the lockers. Isabella smiled warmly. "Like, maybe after school, before it gets too cold," she added. "With hot cocoa to keep us warm…"

Ferb covered his mouth, holding in a laugh. If Phineas did not notice _that_ hint, then he was not sure if there would honestly be any hope in him ever figuring out Isabella's message.

But, yet again, it seemed as though fate was against Isabella. Once he had realized that his zone had been invaded, Phineas quickly slid downwards and swerved around her, nearly causing the girl to run into the lockers. After a short freeze, Isabella turned and looked at him.

Phineas cleared his throat shakily while scratching his ear. "Y-you know, Isabella, it may be a good idea to practice with the rest of the gang too," he said. "I mean, Buford is playing as Juliet's father, and Baljeet as one of Romeo's friends." With a grin, he looked at Ferb. "And Ferb could tell us what we're doing wrong, considering he's a pro at... uh, observing and noticing mistakes."

Ferb rolled his eyes discretely. Isabella on the other hand, frowned irritatingly and tried not to scowl. "Yeah, we _could_ do that," she mumbled. "_Then_, we could all go sky diving together."

Phineas snapped his fingers and smiled while pointing at her. "That would be a _great_ idea, Izzie!" he said. "There's something we can do one of these days…" He shot a quick glare at Ferb. "That is, _once_ I get my sketchbook back from a certain _brother_ of mine."

Ferb simply shrugged in reply and looked at Isabella again. The girl only seemed just about ready to punch Phineas' face in.

The five-minute bell rang and the students around them began to run off to class. Phineas rushed back to his locker and grabbed his things. Closing and locking it behind him, he saluted Ferb and dashed off. "Considering you've got History, I'll see you in an hour, Ferb!" he called out. "Bye, Isabella!"

Ferb watched him leave before Isabella groaned loudly in frustration. The girl pulled at her long black hair and stomped her feet. "I can't _believe_ it!" she exclaimed. "I gave him a whole pack load of hints, and he's _STILL_ as dumb as a post! If he wasn't so cute, I'd kick his butt right about now!"

"He'll eventually clue in," Ferb reassured her. "Just be patient."

Isabella looked at him and suddenly noticed the concern in Ferb's blue eyes. Immediately understanding that this was no doubt for his brother, the girl became worried as well. "Ferb?" she asked. "Is something wrong with Phineas?"

Ferb blinked and stared down the corridor again. "I don't know," he replied. "If there is, he's doing a fairly good job at hiding it."

* * *

They went their separate ways until lunch hour. Because of they had an English class right after the break, their teacher allowed them half an hour to eat before heading for the auditorium. As usual, the Flynn-Fletcher duo met up with their friends and sat down at the table they usually chose for lunch. No one asked them if they had any plans for that hour—word that Phineas had gotten sick the day before had spread around the school, and so the students figured that the Tinkerer was taking a bit of a rest.

Ferb noticed that Phineas hardly touched his lunch. Worriedly, the green-haired, English-born teenager reached over the table and poked Phineas' shoulder. Phineas raised his eyes from staring blankly at the table. That's when Ferb noticed that Phineas' face seemed to be drained of a bit more color. He was shocked before silently expressing his concern. He pointed at the lunch bag.

While the others looked on silently, Phineas grinned a little at his brother. "I'm fine, Ferb," he replied very quietly. "I'm just… not hungry."

Ferb did not seem convinced. He frowned.

"I'm telling the truth, Ferb, I feel perfectly fine," Phineas reassured him. "I just… don't seem to be the least bit hungry."

But Ferb was no idiot. He could tell that Phineas seemed to be fighting something, holding something back. His hands were shaking more and more, even though he looked incredibly healthy.

Ferb frowned harder and reached over to grab Phineas' wrist. He held it up, catching Isabella, Baljeet and Buford's attention. "You're shaking like a leaf, Phineas," he pointed out.

Phineas stared at his hand; sure enough, it was shaking madly.

"I want you to call Candace now," Ferb ordered.

Phineas pulled his hand free and held it away from his brother. "I feel fine, Ferb," he replied.

"Don't lie," Ferb scolded. "I can tell by just looking at you that you're hiding something."

Phineas stared at him in silence before sighing and staring at his lunch. "I've just got a few more cramps," he said. "That's all."

"Are you sure they're not—!"

"—Ferb; I said. That's. ALL. Just relax, okay?"

But Ferb no longer could. Not without knowing what the matter was with his brother. Although he fell silent again, he continuously looked up at his brother worriedly.

Something was wrong. Or else something was _going_ to go wrong very soon.


	8. Chapter 8

"Phineas, you're playing the lead, remember? Don't be afraid to just let it all out!"

When rehearsal time arrived, Phineas and Isabella found each other on the stage in the auditorium, holding scripts of the play in their hands and attempting to act everything out without any of the props. At the moment, Ferb, along with his team, was busy putting them together backstage. The director was sitting in the front row, shouting orders, while the English teacher was sitting nearby. The only other students that were present or in sight were other actors, who were busy rehearsing their lines softly.

"I've seen you act things out before, Phineas Flynn," the director said. "You were _born_ a star! So shine!"

Phineas was having difficulty trying to keep a straight face as the man acted his words out. Isabella was standing nearby, giggling hysterically. The director, a successful playwright that lived in the North End of Danville, was a bit on the plump side, with a tiny goatee beneath his chin and large sunglasses sitting on top of his black beret—sunglasses from the eighties, the teenagers had guessed. He was said to have written plays that were produced in Los Angeles, but even after the first month that he had been at the school, Phineas and his friends suspected him to be a bit of a tall tale teller.

"Uh, I just _started_ learning this, Mr. Lancelot," Phineas pointed out in amusement. "I highly doubt I can shine more than a smidge without knowing many lines."

"I didn't choose you to be the role for no reason, Kid," the man replied, pointing at him. "You have the makings of a star in you. So let it all out at once!" He pointed at Isabella. "This is _the_ most famous scene in the entire play; you have snuck into Juliet's garden and are standing directly beneath her balcony. Express your love for her. Say it like you mean it! Give it a bit of _oomf!" _

Isabella hated the way the man sounded as though he was talking down to them, but these sentences just made working with Phineas so romantic. She sighed heavenly.

Phineas, as usual, did not notice it. He scratched his head. "Sir, she's my neighbour, not my girlfriend," he pointed out.

_Crash_. Had Isabella not known that Phineas was oblivious to romance, nor had she not known that Ferb's advice was always accurate, she would have slapped the teenager across the head with her thick script for having said that.

The director tried not to roll his eyes. "Phineas, on stage, she's Juliet," he said. "And you're Romeo. So make do and act as though you are _madly _in love with her! If you don't, the kiss at the end of the scene will be completely pointless, as it will not move anyone…"

The idea of kissing each other made Isabella's heart flutter. She smiled heavenly.

Phineas on the other hand, became incredibly uneasy. "We're gonna _kiss _?" he said nervously. "Like, on the lips?"

"Obivously, or else it wouldn't be real, now would it?" the director replied.

Phineas blushed and immediately shook his head. "Uh, why can't we just give a peck on the cheek?" he asked with a nervous laugh.

Isabella fought to restrain her arm.

The director sighed loudly and took his seat. "Fine, kiss her on the cheek, for crying out loud," he said. "Kiss her on the _nose _, if you have to. Just _kiss _her, alright?"

Now, Phineas smiled with satisfaction and gave the thumbs up. "Okie doke!" he said.

Isabella looked heavenward and sighed in exasperation. The director waved a hand in the air. "Okay," he said. "Start acting… _now." _

Phineas turned to face Isabella and, while holding his script with one hand, he held his other arm out to make gestures as he spoke. "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?" he gasped dramatically. "It is the East, and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon Who is already sick and pale with grief That thou her maid art far more fair than she…"

Isabella watched him as he spun slowly about while speaking his lines. Suddenly, he seemed so _perfect _for her. The way his hair fluttered as he moved about; the way he spoke the words with amazing dignity; the life he gave to the play. It was so beautiful.

"…See how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek!" Phineas continued, holding an arm out towards Isabella.

Isabella smiled for a moment as she soaked this in; then, realizing that it was her turn to act, she pulled out her script and began recite her lines. "Ay me!" she gasped dramatically, folding an arm over her face. "Romeo, Romeo!"

Phineas pulled his arm back. "She speaks," he said, attempting to sound startled. Reaching out for her again, he said, "O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art As glorious to this night, being o'er my head, As is a winged messenger of heaven Unto the white-upturned wond'ring eyes Of—!"

All of a sudden, Phineas fell incredibly silent. When Isabella looked at him, she noticed that his face was cringing in pain. Phineas put down his arms and placed a hand against his stomach. "Ow," he muttered.

The silence was enough to catch certain students' attention—Buford and Baljeet being two of those. They peeked around the burgundy red curtains.

The director sighed and rose to his feet. "What was that?" he said. "That was beautiful! You honestly sounded like you _wanted _to kiss her! Why did you stop?"

Phineas attempted to straighten himself out, but only returned to clutching his stomach. "I'm sorry," he said. "It was just a cramp. I've been having them often as of late." As he spoke, Isabella noticed the color drain from his face and sweat cover his forehead. She wondered if she should ask him to sit down.

The director did not seem to notice. Mr. Lancelot sat down again. "Just continue from where you finished, please," he asked.

Phineas nodded and straightened out once more. He cleared his throat. "… Wond'ring eyes of mortals that fall back to gaze on him When he—!" He gasped painfully and dropped his script. "Holy _crow_!" he said through his teeth while wrapping his arms around his stomach.

This time, Isabella became worried. The director and their English teacher sat up straight. "Phineas?" the woman spoke alarmingly. "What's the matter?"

Phineas crouched over himself while clenching his teeth harder. "I… I'm not sure, my stomach is just…" He never finished his sentence; instead, he dropped to his knees and cried out in horrible pain.

"Phineas!" Isabella shrieked as the teenager fell completely to the floor while still clutching his stomach. As the teacher and director immediately dropped their things and climbed onto the stage, Isabella looked up worriedly at the burgundy curtains. "FERB!" Her voice cracked as she screamed. "FERB, FERB!"

Hardly a second had passed when Ferb pushed by students that had crowded the backstage entrance. He rushed onto the stage, stopped for only a split second upon seeing his brother on the floor, and then broke into a sprint. "PHINEAS!" he cried out.

Phineas contorted, trying to find a position that would be less painful, but every time he moved, he cried in agony. The students in their class were now muttering worriedly amongst themselves as Ferb dropped to his knees and held up his brother's head. "Phineas!" he yelled desperately. "Phineas, what's wrong? Answer me!"

"Call 9-1-1!" the English teacher ordered as the director pulled out his cellphone. "Tell them to get to Danville High immediately!"

Ferb carefully raised his brother's head and set it down on his lap. He had no idea how to react to this. He had never seen anyone, never mind Phineas, in this much pain before. Tears quickly filled his eyes as the sixteen-year-old felt all control slipping away.

"He was rehearsing his lines and he just started screaming in pain," Isabella choked, catching Ferb's attention as Phineas continued to cry. Tears were already sliding down the girl's cheeks as she attempted to wipe them away. "Ferb, what's wrong with him?" she asked through sobs.

Ferb had no idea. Shaking his head, he looked down at Phineas again. Phineas groaned painfully and opened his eyes to look up at his brother. They were wide with fear. "Ferb, I—!" He could not finish what he was saying before he had to yell out in pain again. His fingers attempted to claw at the floor.

"Tell me what's wrong, Phineas!" Ferb asked desperately. "Please, tell me what's wrong! Where is the pain coming from? ANSWER ME!"

Phineas shook his head from side to side while whimpering. "My…stomach…" He cried out again. "The right side, I think, it's—!" He yelled as loudly as he could before breaking into sobs at the same time. "Oh, _gosh _, Ferb; make it STOP!" he begged agonizingly. "It feels like someone's stuffed a sword through me!"

Ferb tried to keep his tears from being noticed by Phineas; if anyone had to be strong, it was Ferb. Phineas was counting on him to be. When Phineas screamed at the top of his lungs again before bursting into sobs once more, Ferb reached over and held his brother's hand as tightly as he could. "I'm right here, just don't give up, Phineas," he encouraged as his voice broke. "Just stay awake, okay? Just hold on!"

Phineas had lost most of the color in his face by now. His hands were shaking madly and were covered in sweat as he continued attempting to ease the tremendous pain he felt. Isabella stood on the sidelines, almost completely broken down in fear.

Ferb was unsure if his encouragements were going unnoticed or not, since all Phineas did was scream in pain, but as long as he held his brother's hand, he was more than certain that Phineas would know he was there.

_Just don't die or anything, please _, Ferb thought fearfully.

* * *

Candace had expected something to go wrong that day; like Ferb, she had a horrible foreboding. But what _she _considered to be wrong would be something like another trip to the school in order to pick her brother up. Phineas would probably wait until after the rehearsal before calling her on his cell phone and asking her to pick him up.

But when she heard _Ferb _crying frantically at the other end of the phone, Candace knew that something was horribly wrong—Ferb _never _panicked like that. The moment he said Phineas had to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, in which no one but the teacher and Ferb were allowed to ride along, Candace hung up the phone, grabbed her car keys and dashed out of the house as quickly as she could.

She had never thought of finding herself running down the hallways of the hospital in frantic search for a relative. She had not even done so when her biological father had been taken to ER from the car accident thirteen years earlier. She remembered _wanting _to do so, but her mother had told her that it be of no use, since the man had already passed away.

Now that she _was _running through the hospital frantically, she had never expected it to be because her little brother had been rushed there by ambulance.

_Why do things always have to go wrong when Mom's not around? _She thought while turning down another hallway.

Ferb was sitting on a bench when his sister appeared. He had his face buried in his hands and his English teacher standing next to him with a hand sitting on his shoulder in reassurance. When he heard Candace call out to him, he snatched up his head and immediately rose to his feet.

Just as he did, a doctor walked out of the emergency room across the hallway.

Candace came to a screeching halt near the three. "What's wrong with him?" she asked urgently. "Is he alright?"

The doctor looked at her. "Are you a relative of his?" he asked.

"I'm his biological sister."

"Where are his parents?"

"They're out of town. They're not due back until Sunday. I'm in charge of them until they come home." She pointed at the emergency doors. "So I want to know what's wrong with him."

The doctor looked at her, Ferb and the teacher before clearing his throat. "He has appendicitis," he explained calmly. "His appendix ruptured, so it's urgent that we do an appendectomy immediately."

"A surgery?" Candace clarified. "How did his appendix burst?"

"Swelling caused it to expand to the point that it burst. So if we don't give him surgical treatment—!"

Candace held up her hand and stopped him. "Shut up, I don't want to hear the D word!" she snapped. "How long does it take for an appendix to burst? I mean, he was sick yesterday; would that have anything to do with it?"

"What was his condition?" the doctor asked.

Ferb opened his mouth. "High fever, nausea, shaky hands and abdominal pain," he replied before Candace could. "But he only specified where the pain was just today."

"And he refused to eat," Candace added. "I don't even think he ever went to the washroom other than to throw up."

The doctor nodded. "Those are signs of an inflamed or bursting appendix," he said.

"It took that long to burst?"

"Sometimes, it can take a day, yes. The pain starts early. Some people only come to the ER after suffering a day of it. A ruptured appendix normally occurs about 24 hours after symptoms start appearing." He stared at the emergency doors. "We need to perform an appendectomy immediately or else his abdominal cavity will get seriously infected. But since his parents aren't here, and you're obviously his next legal guardian, I'll need to ask you if we can go ahead with the surgery."

Candace fell silent before looking at her stepbrother. Ferb seemed just as anxious as her; Phineas had _never _needed a surgery of any sort before. Although he had never had a fear of hospitals, he did fear what the end results could be, and being put to sleep was probably a frightening thing for someone with as large an imagination as Phineas.

But neither of them wanted to see him suffer any longer. So, without a word, Ferb nodded his head weakly.

The woman looked at the doctor again and nodded as well. "If that's the only solution, then do it," she said.

The doctor nodded in reply. "It will take a few hours," he said. "Is there a contact number I can reach you at?"

Candace shook her head. "Don't bother, I'm going to wait here," she said.

"But—!"

"I'm not leaving this building until I'm _sure _Phineas will be fine," Candace interrupted sharply. "So I will _wait _here."

* * *

Ferb had been asked by his teacher if he wished to return to school—she knew very well of the relationship he shared with his brother and would allow him to stay as long as he needed to at the hospital. Once Candace had given him complete permission, Ferb stayed with his sister.

While he did, he poured through the notebook he had taken from Phineas the day before.

"Phineas and Ferb's Amazing Roller Coaster… Phineas and Ferb's Backyard Beach… Phineas and Ferb's Haunted House for Isabella…" Ferb muttered the title of every invention he found in the book. The original sketches of the inventions he named were in fact all drawn in different sketchbooks, books that Phineas had bought over the years since the age of ten. But because a few from their first inventive summer had been his favourite, he often redrew them in other sketchbooks afterwards, just as a reminder of what he and Ferb had been able to do.

"He always put our names in front of it, lest it was an adventure to Atlantis or the moon or through time or something," Ferb muttered subconsciously. He was sitting next to Candace in the hospital lobby. Candace had called Jeremy earlier about Phineas' rush to the hospital—her fiancé would meet them there just as soon as he could get off of work.

Candace looked over her brother's shoulder as Ferb poured through the sketchbook, one page after another. Every corner of every page was filled with a sketch from Phineas, whether it be an invention or an adventure, or even little comics or moments in class in which Phineas found a treasured memory. There were cartoons of him and Ferb all over the place.

"I often wondered why he didn't decide to become an artist instead," Ferb added without looking up. "He draws so much better than I can, and he does it so much faster. And what's more, his cartoons are simply hilarious." He came to a sketch Phineas had done of him and Ferb as children. The detail in it was incredibly accurate—everything from the licks of hair to the bright eyes to the buttons on Ferb's blouse. The green-haired teenager sighed heavily and placed a hand over his mouth. "An inventor, a tinkerer, an actor, a musician, a singer and an artist…" He tapped his fingers over the sketchbook page. "Remind me to slap him if he ever says he wishes to be more like me again."

"Ferb, you're talking as though Phineas isn't going to survive this," Candace noticed. "It's only his appendix. I'm sure he'll be completely fine after wards."

Ferb sighed heavily before continuing to flip through the pages of the sketchbook.

"I've never heard you talk this much before either," his sister went on. "… What happened during rehearsal must have really freaked you out or something."

Ferb laughed nervously. "When you're backstage, pulling out the plans for the props, explaining things, and you hear a scream and then your neighbour calling for you, sure, I was freaked out," he replied. "But then when I find that my brother has collapsed in tremendous pain on the floor and is telling me that someone's skewered him, I wasn't freaked out…" His eyes glazed over. "Petrified is more of an accurate description of how I was feeling."

Candace placed a hand over Ferb's shoulder and rubbed it. "If it helps, I'm worried too," she said. "But he'll be fine, Ferb. Phineas is always fine. To be honest, I'm actually pretty _happy _that it was just his appendix causing the pain. I mean, for a while there, when you were on the phone, I thought that it was a whole lot more serious. So just relax."

Ferb moaned weakly and passed his hands through his hair. "I know, I know," he muttered. "I've just… never seen him in that much distress before… I wasn't sure how to react… Which is strange, considering we've come face-to-face with things people would only _dream _of and actually survived."

"Traveling through time and zapping yourselves into video games is not as _freaky _to you guys as car accidents and appendicitis," Candace said, forming brackets when speaking the word _freaky_. "To you two, those are normal things that every kid—or every Phineas and Ferb—should face at one point." She leaned over and gave a comforting smile to her stepbrother. "Real life situations can be a lot scarier than dinosaurs and aliens, Ferb. It's normal to feel helpless in face of problems like these. Even for unemotional geeks like you."

"I'm not unemotional," Ferb replied, although he was wearing an amused grin now. "I just find that actions speak louder than words… or facial expressions, for that matter."

Candace rubbed his head before sitting back again. "So like I said before, just relax," she repeated. After a moment, however, worry fell over her face again. "Of course, saying a little prayer wouldn't hurt either… just in case something _does _go wrong."

Ferb inhaled shakily and hugged Phineas' sketchbook against his chest.

"… I can't begin to think what was going through that crazy head of his when he saw the anaesthetist stick a _tranquilizing dart _into his arm…"


	9. Chapter 9

_"Ay me! Oh, Romeo, Romeo…"_

_"Call 9-1-1!"_

_"Phineas! Phineas what's wrong? ANSWER ME!"_

_"He collapsed about ten minutes ago in pain. He says it's abdominal."_

_"I'm going in the ambulance with him."_

_"You're not old enough to accompany him, Kid."_

_"I'm sixteen! I've got my beginner's and I'll be going for my test in January; want to see?"_

_"You're not his legal guardian so we can't—!"_

_"I'M GOING INTO THE AMBULANCE WITH HIM AND THAT'S FINAL!"_

Final… final… final…

_"I-I can't br-reathe… F-F-F-Ferb, I c-can't inhale…"_

_"Yes you can. Just do it slowly."_

_"… Gosh, it feels like my whole stomach's on fire…"_

_"Just don't give up, okay? Promise me that. Why don't we sing something? That always made you feel better, right?"_

_"… I c-c-can't sing right now Ferb… I-i-i-t h-hurts too m-much…"_

_"I'll sing for you then. What song would you like to hear?"_

_"… Summer… Summer…"_

_"It's been a long, long day and there were moments when I doubted… That we'd ever reach the point where we could laugh and sing about it…"_

_"… Oh gosh I want to sing right now…"_

_"Just keep your eyes open, Phineas… Keep your eyes open…"_

Open… open… open…

* * *

The sound of machines whirring and beeping faded into view as voices from foggy memories receded. Light pushed the darkness away. Why he had blacked out in the first place was still a bit of a mystery to him—he remembered there being a reason for it, but he could not recall what the reason _was._

He could hear his heart pounding in his ears for the first few seconds before it calmed down. His stomach was still hurting, though not as much as it had earlier. He could feel his arm throb weakly where they had inserted the needle…

… Oh, wait. The needle. _I remember now…_

Phineas moaned while slowly tossing his head from one side to the other and then daring to open his eyes at least partway. "I'm dead," he croaked. "I am _so_ dead right now… Someone tell me I'm right—!"

"—Thank God you're _wrong." _

The sound of his sister's voice caused Phineas to stop tossing his head and open his eyes a little more.

"Because if you were right, then that would mean that we're _all_ dead."

The fifteen-year-old remained in his current position before finally turning his head completely to his left, in the direction that the voice had come from.

Candace was sitting next to the hospital bed, an eyebrow cocked and a wry smile on her face. Behind her stood Jeremy, still in his work's uniform.

Phineas blinked tiredly. "So I'm not dead?" he said. "That needle didn't kill me?"

There was a soft chuckle to his right, so the teenager turned his head again. Ferb was sitting there, hands beneath his chin, smiling as well. "They only put enough to make you drowsy," he muttered quietly.

"How are you feeling, Phineas?" Candace asked.

Phineas turned his head again and looked at his sister. "Um, tired," he replied. "And my stomach still hurts, but not as much as it did up on stage…" He looked at the bandage on his arm where the needle had once been and then looked at Candace once more. "What happened?"

"Ferb and your teacher accompanied you to the hospital," Jeremy explained. "Your doctor said that your appendix ruptured, so they had to make an immediate surgery."

"Yeah, I remember _that_ part," Phineas replied flatly, making his brother chuckle. "You'd think the doctor would at _least_ tell me that. I mean what happened _since_ I was tranquilized?"

Jeremy grinned amusingly. "You want the professional explanation or the _Phineas_ explanation?" he wondered.

"I like professional, but the _Phineas_ explanation sounds more interesting."

Candace rolled her eyes before Jeremy answered: "They cut you open and cleaned out your system," he said.

Phineas' eyes went wide in disbelief and then amazement. "_Really?_" he said in awe. Completely forgetting how tired he was, he grabbed the edges of his covers, pulled them up and stared at his stomach beneath them, even though it was hidden from view by his hospital gown. "You mean like in all those movies? They actually cut me open?" After giggling like a giddy child, he added, "Sweet!"

Jeremy slapped a hand over his mouth and laughed behind it, but that did not stop Ferb from laughing out loud. Candace only slapped her forehead while smiling.

"That's got to be the coolest detail about this whole thing, man!" Phineas continued as he raised his gown and stared at the bandage over his abdomen. "Aw, I wish I was awake to see that!"

"Okay, he _obviously_ hasn't lost any of his _Phineasness_," Candace muttered.

Once Phineas had finished marvelling the bandage, he let the covers go and sighed heavily while closing his eyes. "So, no more sick days?" he said after a moment, looking at his sister again.

At these words, Candace looked at him pitifully. "Well, not officially," she replied.

Phineas stared at her in confusion until Ferb cleared his throat. "The doctor says that you need to stay at the hospital for the next three to four days," the sixteen-year-old announced.

Phineas' eyes lost their sparks. "For _how_ long?" he echoed.

Jeremy held up his hands. "It's procedure, Phin," he explained. "The doctors need to keep a close eye on you until you're well enough to go home. Since your appendix ruptured, they needed to clean out a _lot_ of the mess it made. Once you leave, you'll probably be on antibiotics for a month or two."

The fifteen-year-old did not seem to be paying attention any longer. He set his head back against his pillows again and stared blankly at the wall across from the bed. An incredibly sorrowful look crossed over him. "So, basically… I'm stuck here until Mom and Dad get back?" he muttered slowly.

"Or at least Saturday," Candace replied. "I gave Mom a call and she and Dad are already trying to book a flight back asap."

Phineas sighed sadly. "Well," he began, attempting to sound as cheerful as he could, "At least I can cross out _Get Appendicitis and Survive an Appendectomy_ off my to-do list of daily things…" He closed his eyes. "So… what am I going to do tomorrow?... I know; why not lie in a hospital bed and survive yet _another_ three or four days of no inventing? Sounds _thrilling_, if you ask me…"

"Why not add a few gifts?" Jeremy suggested.

Phineas looked up at him in silence before he heard something on Ferb's side of the bed. When he turned to look, his brother was holding up a flat gift, wrapped in silver paper with a red bow. Ferb grinned. "I thought you'd like something while you're forced to stay here," he said.

Phineas blinked quickly before reaching out and grabbing the gift. After concluding that gifts certainly made his stay at the hospital a little more colourful, he grinned and began to carefully pull the paper off of the package. He liked keeping wrapping paper if it looked nice, just in case he would need it for something.

When at last the wrapping was undone, Phineas tossed it aside and stared in awe at what was sitting in his hands:

His sketchbook. Complete with a pencil.

Phineas grinned very weakly before tracing his fingers over the cover of the book.

"I'll be expecting something every day," Ferb said, almost sternly. "That way, you can text me or call me every morning at six and tell me what to build for lunch hour."

His brother pulled the pencil out of the book and looked at his best friend. "But you said you wouldn't give it back until I was well again," Phineas pointed out.

Ferb nodded. "And you are," he replied. "Well and safe…" He looked at his hands. "I shall take this moment to finally express myself openly to you, Phin… I thought you were going to _die_. I… was not certain how to react when Isabella called for me… and when I saw you on the ground… To be honest, I was kind of hoping you were playing a _really_ bad joke…"

Phineas stared at him in silence for a moment or two before opening his mouth. "You mean I actually _scared_ you?" he said. "But you're not afraid of anything, Ferb."

"Not anything _we've_ faced, no… But those are things that have nothing to do with real life situations. Had I been more familiar with the symptoms of a ruptured appendix, I probably would have been a lot more in control…"

Phineas listened closely to every word his brother said. That was another thing Ferb admired about the fifteen-year-old; he always listened if something was important—unless it had something to do with romance, which his childlike wonder always distracted him from.

Ferb looked up at Phineas, revealing that his eyes were slightly tearful. He was obviously attempting to keep them from being noticed. "And now that everything's through, I'm _really_ relieved that it was just appendicitis," he said through a nervous laugh. "Because it would be completely wrong if you could never come home again, Phineas." He held out his hand. "So make sure to invent something every day and call me every morning to start planning. It'll reassure me that you're still working properly."

Phineas would have laughed amusingly, at this last part, had anyone else said them. But because Ferb was the one who uttered them, Phineas took them seriously. Every word that came out of his brother's mouth was something he had never expected to hear. If it only took an injury or pain to have Ferb speak words like this to him, then it was obviously supposed to be taken seriously.

Phineas stared at Ferb's hand in silence before finally smiling and grabbing it. Holding it as tightly as he could, he looked at his stepbrother. "Count on it," he said.

Ferb grinned in reply before finally letting his brother's hand go. Phineas took the opportunity to flip quickly through his sketchbook before finally another piece of advice came to mind—something someone had told him the day before. After a few seconds of silence, the fifteen-year-old raised his head and looked at his sister. "Die like who?" he said meekly.

Candace and Jeremy recoiled in surprise before staring at him in confusion. "Huh?" Candace wondered.

"When you were driving me back home from school yesterday, you told me that," Phineas recalled. "You were starting to say something about not overdoing it. You said that you didn't want my hobby to kill me like it killed…" He shrugged. "You stopped there. Remember?"

"Geez; if I ever decide to attempt to pull an April Fool's prank on you in the middle of the night, I'll probably never get away with it," Candace said flatly, making the boys laugh. "You're a _really_ light sleeper, Phineas."

Phineas smiled innocently. "I try," he replied. "So… what did you mean?"

Candace waited a moment before looking down at her hands and sighing. "I didn't want your hobby to kill you…" she hesitated to finish. "… Like it killed our dad."

Phineas and Ferb stared at her in complete silence. Neither of them was certain on how to react to this. Candace looked at her biological brother. "Dad left in the car that night because… he wanted to go buy the last parts he needed to finish inventing that bike for you," she explained. "You know; the one that's still sitting in the back corner of the garage? He was poised on getting everything finished over the weekend so that he could surprise you before the week was up. Mom told him not to go, but he said he wouldn't be gone long…" She laughed nervously and looked at her hands again. "He liked to drive fast, though, when he got excited. And with all that rain falling so hard, I guess he didn't see that stupid drunk semi-truck driver swerve—!"

"If it worried you that much, Candace, why didn't you just finish what you were saying?" Phineas asked. "Just because I close my eyes, it doesn't mean that I fall asleep like that."

"Probably for the main reason that you _never_ worry me, Phineas," Candace pointed out. "You tick me off, yeah; you and Ferb have been _pretty_ good at that over the past five years… But this was the first time that your perseverance and stubbornness was freaking me out. I'm not used to that yet. And other than the fact that you didn't really _heed_ my concerns, I didn't want you getting all edgy about something else with our biological father. It's already bad enough car accidents scare you… I didn't want to give you an extra reason not to be Phineas Flynn."

Phineas stared at her in silence before looking at the wall across from the hospital bed he was in. After a moment, he grinned amusingly. "I knew you cared more than you said you did," he muttered, making Ferb laugh behind his hand.

Jeremy laughed as well. Candace made a grimace and tried to restrain herself from pinching his ear. "You're lucky you're in a hospital already, Genius," she said, making Phineas grin brightly.


	10. Chapter 10

Until Saturday, Phineas was forced to remain in the hospital. Ferb visited him every day once his homework was through, bringing along with him the work Phineas had to finish and telling him about how lunch hour of that day went. As promised, Phineas called his brother every morning at six with a new idea, and made sure that Ferb would take pictures of it for Phineas to document.

Wednesday, Candace and Jeremy spent the afternoon with him. They brought Candace's favourite robot boxing video game so that they could have a small competition. Jeremy handed him a gift which contained the newest racing video game Phineas had been dying to buy once he had saved up enough.

Thursday, his Flynn Grandparents came to see him. His grandmother had backed him a batch of Phineas' favourite shortbread cookies, and his grandfather told him stories and legends, exactly in the same manner he had done so when Phineas had been a child. And just like back at that age, Phineas enjoyed every single one of them.

Thursday was also the early return of his parents. When Candace called her mother Tuesday, just as Phineas was in surgery, Linda and Lawrence did everything in their power to get an early flight back home. It was only Thursday evening at seven that they finally returned, which had still allowed them to attend the Chicago Antique Convention on Wednesday. As soon as they arrived in Danville, Lawrence drove the car to the hospital and the couple stayed with Phineas until the teenager was too tired to keep his eyes open.

Isabella came to visit him on Friday after school with Ferb. She brought a large gift for him, complete with purple wrapping paper and a glittering silver bow. Inside was a giant package of homemade chocolates—Phineas had had a sweet tooth for Isabella's old family recipe since his childhood—mechanical pencils with different coloured leads, a stuffed platypus that Isabella made herself, and a giant card that said the words "Get Well Soon." There was a poem written by her inside the card, along with a photo they took together during summer at the pool.

Although Phineas had not yet gotten the hint, Isabella did not mind; she had not intended on flirting with him that day. She only wanted to show how much she cared.

Friday night, Perry came and paid his owner a visit. Because of the daily missions he had had, he had not had the chance to come and check up on the boy himself. So while everyone was supposedly sleeping, Ferb texted Phineas and told him that Perry would be dropping by. The platypus slipped in silently through the window and climbed onto the bed to sit at Phineas' feet. He, like several other visitors Phineas had had that week, had a gift in his hands. It was small, but Phineas had learned never to take anything about his pet platypus for granted anymore.

As it turned out, Perry had given him the laser pen Phineas had fancied since the day the platypus allowed him and Ferb access to his lair. Because of Phineas' wild imagination and energy, Perry had made it clear that neither he nor Ferb were allowed to touch any of his secret spy gear—he was worried they would harm themselves. The laser pen had been one of Phineas' favourites, and the fifteen-year-old had often taken it without permission in order to work on inventions. Perry had eventually caught on.

But now that he was sure Phineas knew how to use it properly, not to mention Perry hardly ever used it himself, he decided to give it as a gift. Then, considering he could not verbally communicate with the teenager, Perry playfully rubbed Phineas' head, tipped his fedora, and slipped back out into the night before a nurse noticed him.

Saturday afternoon was the day Phineas could return home. Which he did gladly.

And the best thing about that Saturday was that he was allowed to do anything he wanted to until dinner, as long as it did not involve him using too much of his abdomen muscles. And so, because the sun was out that day, Phineas decided to do the one thing he had continuously done with Ferb since they were children: sit at the base of the backyard tree and wonder what they would do the following day.

Although it involved mostly Phineas making a list, Ferb was more than happy to assist him in this activity.

Sunday was the first day in his entire life that Phineas slept in.

* * *

Isabella dashed down the hallways as quickly as she could, dressed in her favourite pink skirt and black top. Hair tied in a braid that Monday, she zigzagged between her peers, desperate to reach her destination. She only snapped at someone once when they refused to move out of her way.

"Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me—MOVE IT, BUSTER!"

Her friends giggled as they watched her zip by in such an eager manner. Had they not known where she was headed, they would have undoubtedly followed her out of curiosity.

Turning the next corner, she squealed upon recognizing her crush. "Phineas!" she cried out joyfully.

Phineas and Ferb were just closing their lockers when Isabella arrived. Baljeet and Buford were already there, asking one question after another to the red-head about his week at the hospital. When Isabella made her presence known, all four boys turned and looked at her.

Isabella would have leaped into Phineas' arms, had she not known that it might still cause him a bit of pain—his stomach had not yet completely healed. Instead, she skidded to a stop before him, smiled brightly and then threw her arms around his neck, making him laugh. "Oh, you don't know how happy I am to see you as your old self again!" she said as Phineas hugged her back. "I missed you, missed you, _missed_ you, Phineas Flynn!"

"Thanks, Isabella," Phineas replied before letting her go. He hoisted up his bag a little and smiled. "And thanks for dropping by the hospital last Friday. It was really nice seeing you."

Isabella teetered from side to side while giggling childishly. "I figured you'd like to have something to help cheer you up," she replied. After a moment of silence, while Buford muttered something about "blind love" to Baljeet, Isabella opened her mouth again: "So… Whatcha gonna do today, Phinny?"

Phineas shared a smiled with Ferb. "Surprise, like usual," he said. "But it's gonna be big. Like, mega huge—!"

"Which brings us back to the subject before Isabella showed up," Buford interrupted. He frowned suspiciously and crossed his arms. "I don't believe that this surgery left that big of a mark on you, Dinner Bell. You're too _short_ to leave something that huge behind."

"I believe him," Baljeet disagreed. "Phineas never lies, Buford!"

"Just because he doesn't lie, it doesn't mean that he can't exaggerate."

Isabella looked at them curiously until Phineas chuckled. "I wasn't exaggerating," he said. "You can ask Jeremy if you want to. He's the one who told me they had to cut me open."

"Like a lab rat or something?" Baljeet asked eagerly.

"Well, no, not to _that_ extent, Jeet. But they did have to cut me open in order to clean everything up."

Baljeet was incredibly giddy. "Oh, that sounds so interesting!" he said. "If I was not so interested in sciences, I would probably be hurling by now, but that sounds so cool!"

"And unbelievable," Buford repeated. He pointed at Phineas. "If your scar really _is_ as big as you say it is, why don't you just show it?"

Phineas looked at him for a moment before grinning and shrugging. "Fine," he replied. Grabbing the bottom of his hoodie and his striped t-shirt beneath it, Phineas pulled up his clothes to reveal his bare stomach. Near the bottom right was a large scar, which was still in the progress of healing.

Isabella, Baljeet and Buford leaned in to see better. "Oh, wooooowwww!" Baljeet said in awe. "That _is_ big!"

Buford scoffed. "It's not _that_ big!" he complained.

"Are you kidding me?" Phineas replied. "It's huge!"

"Gimme a break; I've gotten worst cases than this. That's puny!"

Ferb raised a finger. "Maybe, but it goes all the way down to where his appendix once was," he clarified. "Do your wounds go that deep?"

Buford stared at him in silence before looking at Phineas' stitches again. After considering Ferb's words, he shrugged. "Okay, so it's _deep_," he muttered stubbornly. "But mine are still bigger."

"Fair enough," Phineas replied as he let his clothes go and smoothed them out. "But you know what else is good about this? _I_ can get away with not doing the drills in gym."

At these words, Buford gaped in disbelief and then looked at Ferb. Pointing at himself, he said, "You think you can pull out your portable lab thingy and put it to good use?" he asked,

Ferb shot him a disgusted glare while the others laughed.

"That's got to be the most disgusting thing I have heard you say this year," Baljeet said, although he was laughing as he spoke.

"Well, it's not fair! Why does Phineas always get away with something like that?" Buford complained. "Either the girls think he's cute, or the guys like his ideas, or the teachers like his grades, or the doctors like his insides—!"

"Let's take a pin and hang this conversation up before it goes too far," Phineas interrupted, partially in disgust. He looked at Ferb with a grin. "Besides; it's all in the past now, so we don't need to talk about hospitals or pain anymore."

Ferb grinned back.

"At least not until Buford chips another tooth."

"Hey!" Buford exclaimed as Baljeet and Isabella laughed. "That last time was not my fault! I didn't know that stupid sandwich you an' Ferb invented was made of titanium! Who would build that anyway?"

"It was for an experiment for science class last spring," Ferb replied as-a-matter-of-factly. With a sly smile, he added, "Which proved our theory that most humans _fressen_ instead of _essen."_

"Yo, I understand German!" Buford snapped as the others laughed. "And I do not think with my stomach! Only when it's empty."

Phineas stifled another laugh before the five-minute bell rang. "Op, time for class," he announced. "We'd better get going before we get tardies."

Buford rolled his eyes as he, Baljeet and Isabella walked off. "Sheesh; I think I liked him better when he was sick," he mumbled. "He was less of a chatterbox."

Phineas beamed proudly at these words, though, and looked at Ferb. "I guess I'm completely healed then, right?" he guessed.

Ferb winked in reply as they followed the others. "Just perfectly."

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Okay! So that concludes another PnF story. The next big one is **Vocal Blues**. You can also read the PnF oneshots in my gallery on deviantart. I won't be posting those here, so if you want to read those, go to my gallery, open the PnF folder and you'll find a few things._

_Other than that, this story has now been a gift for my dear friend Melty94 on deviantart33 Her brother recently had to go into surgery because of Appendicitis, so keep him in your prayers guys. Hopefully all goes well.  
_


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